


Elemental

by TallulahBelle



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-23
Updated: 2009-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-06 13:28:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallulahBelle/pseuds/TallulahBelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue and Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to S. Meyer
> 
> Beta'd by keepingupwiththekids
> 
> A/N: Unedited since its original posting on that other site.

 

**BPOV**

 

 We were surrounded by the darkness.

 Feelings of fear and dread washed over me, leaving me shaking with thoughts of being completely helpless. I felt its ice like fingers slowly moving towards us and I frantically reached out my hand to the closest body to me, in a subconscious move of self-protection.

 Looking over to my right to see that it was Alice’s hand that I was holding; wearing the same expression on her face that was flowing through me. On the opposite side of her was Jasper, holding onto her other hand.

 We had found ourselves in a small opening in the forest, trying to regroup, only to fall into its trap. The trees and bushes around us were alive with unnatural moaning of pure gloom, foreboding what was about to befall us.

 I could see my breath clearly, with the oncoming cold mist that was seeping its way towards us.

“Bella, you have to take Edward’s hand!” Alice shouted next to me. The noise from the forest was loud enough that normal conversation was impossible to hear.

  I turned my head to my left and saw Edward standing near me. Looking up to see his face filled with apprehension.

 My own fear briefly changed to warmth towards him. It was that strange, wonderful, floating feeling that had been making its way to the surface of my being every time I was with him lately. I could almost see its rose-colored glow surround us. His face, person, everything, had become something precious to me in these past few weeks. I felt a moment of regret for not telling him what he meant to me.

 Edward sensing my emotional change, reached for my hand and gripped it tightly. He held up our hands to show me that he was in this with me. That we were joined in whatever fate held for us now as his feelings of regret and warmth flowed over to me in return.

 _We are now equals_.

“We’re all joined in a circle!” I think Emmett yelled behind me.

 My eyes stayed on Edward’s face, who had closed his eyes in concentration to begin calling and channeling the Elements. I could see the strain and feel his fatigue that always followed when he tried to handle all four of them: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. In every other attempt we made, it had always led to failure. With our lives in peril, I could feel him trying to override the sleepiness trying to drag him under into the subconscious.

_If there was some way that I could help him._

A flash of remembrance about a conversation between Esme and me, shortly after my imprinting, came to mind. Something that I had overlooked in our studies was now glaringly obvious. Would it work? We had failed every other time when we were joined in a circle, putting too much into one thought process. My gut told me that I was on the right path. Time was almost up for all of us. We needed to act on this now if we had any chance of surviving.

“Edward, stop!! I know what we have to do!” I shouted in his ear.

 

 BPOV

  _Everything is_ _Green…_

_… And wet._

  Ever since we entered Northern California, it was as if we hit a wall of damp signaling that we were no longer in the warmth of my childhood hometown. Tall trees and rain had become the constant view outside my window in the backseat of my parent’s car.

  Mom and dad, after years of living in Phoenix, decided to move back to their hometown of Forks, Washington. It was some little town that barely registered on a map, with one main street running through it. After looking it up on Google, I realized it was going to be a bit of a drive to the nearest city that contained anything like a movie theater or a bookstore. Forks was essentially in the middle of nowhere, surround by lots of immense foliage and water.

  Why they couldn’t have waited a year, so I could finish my high school experience? Instead, they felt the need to move the first week of August, just two weeks away from the new school year. They didn’t say much about why we were moving except that it had to do with family matters that needed attending to immediately; a family that I had never met in all my seventeen years.

 I had heard various things about them growing up, but we had never paid them a visit during holidays or even had them come to us for a stopover. No Christmas or birthday cards, or even photos were exchanged. It was like mom, dad, and I were the only family members that mattered. We were happy, so I didn’t think to question them further about the lack of contact or visits.

 Now, I just didn’t understand the about-face of it all, and to have it happen so quickly.

 Of course, I would never verbalize my thoughts out loud to my parents. I sensed that they were not entirely happy with the move themselves. My usually exuberant mother became quiet overnight. When packing, I caught her a few times staring into space, clearly lost in her thoughts, her face showing extreme stress. I had never seen her act this way before and found it to be slightly unnerving.

 Dad wasn’t much better. He had always been quiet, but it was like he went completely mute.

 In the last few days leading up to the drive up North, it had been up to me to organize the trip. Dad was trying to finish up work and mom had been on autopilot with packing. She was determined to get as much finished in the short amount of time we had to pack. Anything that didn’t involve stuffing things into boxes was pushed to the side in her mind. Dad had given us a deadline of only three days.

 On my last night, I had gone to the movies and dinner with a few friends from school. We made promises to e-mail, but I had a feeling that it was half-hearted. I was never popular at school. I was always the quiet, bookworm girl, not the cheerleading, party girl. I really had no use for getting involved with the illegal activities that most of that crowd was into at weekend parties. Not that I was ever invited, having a father that was a cop scared most kids away from inviting me into those situations.

 The friends I had were more fair-weathered and I think that my cop father was hindering the fact that they had actually wanted to attend those parties. If that’s what they wanted, it was probably better that the friendship ended here. I had plans to earn a scholarship to a good college and needed all of my faculties to concentrate on the end goal.

 The drive had so far been relatively quiet. The only diversion had been mom, who was trying to snap out of her depression during the trip. She got dad to stop at places of interest for photo opportunities. My mother was into anything creative and was always involving me in the classes of her latest hobby. Painting, cooking, pottery, basket weaving, ballroom dancing, you name it she has probably tried it.

 Photography was her latest passion. Stopping at places that had buildings shaped like coffee pots or old movie theaters with interesting decor, to take photos, appealed to her artistic side.

 Seeing that it gave her some sort of peace and happiness, I conceded to having my picture taken along the way, even though it made me slightly uncomfortable. I never felt photogenic and the extra attention was not something I sought.

 “Bella?” My father’s deep, but soft voice broke me out of my thoughts. “We’re about five miles away.”

 I sat up straighter in my seat, taking a better look out of the window at the surrounding view. We came upon the small town minutes later. I took in all the shops, restaurants, and motel along the main road. They were smaller and grey in comparison to the buildings I was use to in Phoenix. I felt a twinge of depression.

_No warm inviting colors here._

 We took a turn onto a smaller road, near the end of the most concentrated buildings of Fork’s downtown area. We drove past a few neighborhoods with medium size houses, that all seemed to have a similar look to them: white outsides with dark colored shutters around the windows, and smallish front yards.

 When we were driving past more trees than houses, I was curious to know where exactly we were headed.

“Dad?” I asked in confusion.

“Hmmm?”

“Where are we going?”

It was then that I saw a solitary road up ahead and felt the car slow down to prepare to turn the corner. A frisson of something ran down my body. Something akin to electricity.

“We’re a few more miles from the house,” dad replied after turning onto the road.

 Moments later, I caught glimpses of white peeking through the trees. As we got closer, I could make out large houses settled near each other.

 The houses were nothing like what we had first seen upon entering the residential area, that they were more like mansions. The strange thing about them was that they were all different styles of design, but they seemed to fit together. They had some sort of harmony in their oddity.

  As we passed one of the “newer” houses, two young women were standing in the driveway talking to each other. They turned to look, specifically at me, when we drove by them. One of them was a breath-taking, tall blonde, who had her arms crossed over her chest and stared at me directly without any sign of courtesy. The other was her opposite, in height and coloring, but just as beautiful. She smiled and gave a small wave. I gave a little smile in return.

 Finally, we came to a stop in the circular driveway in front of a home that looked older than the rest. It was a large two story house; strike that, mansion, with columns that supported a second story wrap-around porch. The first story also had a porch with large French doors and dark green shutters adorning them. I could see that a good amount of the house was brick, but was painted white.

  _Holy shit, it’s Tara from Gone with the Wind._

 I swallowed hard, and turned to dad to find that he was staring at the house with such intensity, like a man in a desert finding an oasis full of cool water.

“Dad?” I asked tentatively, not sure if I should break whatever spell he was under.

 He didn’t even look away from the house, just grunted in acknowledgement.

“Is _this_ our house?”

 This seemed to alert him to move. He turned the engine off, and got out of the car. Mom followed, but didn’t give the place much attention. She had been extremely quiet since we hit the town city limits.

“Yes. This is the Swan House, where I grew up,” he said as he made his way up to the front porch.

 This bit of information shocked me, realizing how little I knew of my father’s life before Phoenix.

“You grew up here?” I asked incredulously, waving my hand in the direction of the house, following him.

 As he took the first step onto the porch, the front door opened to reveal a handsome woman, who looked to be about the same age as dad. She had light brown hair, bright blue eyes, and was wearing black dress pants with a royal blue silk blouse.

“Charlie! It’s so good to see you!!” The woman exclaimed happily, stepping forward to embrace my father. “How was your trip?”

 After a few words with dad about the journey, she turned towards us to take in mom and me. When she looked at mom, her smile faltered a little, but it was back in place when her eyes met mine. In fact, her smile brightened further then when she greeted dad.

“You must be Isabella,” she said coming down to the foot of the steps, where I stood. She took me into a maternal hug and then pulled away to get a better look at me, keeping her hands on my upper arms.

 “Welcome to Forks. I’m your Aunt Margaret,” she said. She gave me one more hug and then released me to greet mom.

 There was a sort of tension between them, but could tell that mom was relieved when they eventually embraced. They were quiet in their greeting, interrupted only by Dad who broke the moment with a clearing of his throat.

“Is anyone else around or just you, Maggie?”

“No, it’s just me for the moment,” Aunt Margaret replied, turning her attention back to dad. “We planned on having you over for dinner later tonight, but since that is only a few hours away, we can put it off until tomorrow if you want to get settled in a bit.”

 Dad looked over to mom and then nodded his head. “I think tomorrow might be better.”

 She smiled and then looked at me. “Isabella, maybe tomorrow morning you would like to meet your cousin Emmett? He’s been looking forward to your arrival.”

“Um, okay,” I replied, receiving yet another stunning bit of information: I had a cousin.

 She smiled “Great. Is ten o’clock okay?” looking at dad for confirmation. “We’ll bring breakfast.”

 Dad just nodded his head in acceptance.

 She gave me one last smile before turning back to mom and dad to lead them into the house. I took a moment to turn around and look at the front yard. It was made up of a paved circular drive with a white brick mailbox at the end. In the center was a well-manicured lawn with medium bushes lined up near the road. Across the road, I could see patches of white of the house closest to ours through the trees that acted as a natural fence.

 The contrast of my surroundings was vastly different to what I was use to in the desert. While I was not a fan of the intense heat we could experience in Phoenix, I would much rather take that, than this constant cloud-cover and wetness. It added an extra weight on me physically and emotionally.

 Turning to go into the house, I heard a car coming from the direction that we had previously driven. As it came closer, I could hear faint music, knowing that it must be loud inside the car. Finally, it rounded the bend and came into view. It was sleek, silver, and it moved fast, like it was competing with the aggressive noise that pulsed from it. It passed by quickly continuing along the road without a sign of slowing down on the narrow road.

 The car had screamed money even though I wasn’t familiar with the type of car. It reminded me of some of the more privileged kids back home, who drove expensive cars without a care for anyone else on the road. I guess some things didn’t change no matter where you lived.

 I turned back to the house as the noise from it muted from distance.

 I walked inside to find myself gasping in surprise. The room was completely breathtaking.

 It was an entry room that had multiple doors running along each wall with a large sweeping staircase towards the end that led up to the second floor. The room had a tall ceiling, covered in rich looking sage green wallpaper that one would find in antique shops or see in period rooms in museums.

 Somewhat behind the staircase at the other end of the long room, I could make out another set of double doors made mostly of warped aged glass that looked like it led to the backyard. I was drawn to the door to get a better look of what was behind it.

 As I got closer, I could see that it was actually another room beyond it that looked like it was made of glass and filled with plants. Walking through the door, I realized that I was in a greenhouse. It was a large white painted metal room, with many windows that had a red brick pathway that led to another door at the far end.

 The plants seemed to have grown wild with no rhyme or reason to their layout. Silent fruit trees were mixed in with half-dead bushes. Small next to tall, shapes clashing, with strange scents mixing. It resembled a chaotic jungle, but I felt enticed to move further into the room.

 There was a feeling of welcoming in this room, like it wanted me here. That feeling of electricity I had felt earlier was back.

 I noticed that along the pathway in the center of the room was a circle made of the same brick, and walked over to it. Looking closer, I could make out symbols like on a compass. There was one for North with an arrow pointing in its direction. Right below the “N”, there was another drawing of some sort. It looked like a child’s sketch of a green leaf. I turned to the next point on the floor compass, of East and found another sketch of what looked like a white cloud. I kept turning and saw that both South and West also had their own picture as well.

_North, South, East, West._

_Earth, Air, Fire, Water._

 I looked directly down at my feet to see the center of the circle. It was filled in with a type of purple stone. It wasn’t brick, but it didn’t look like marble either.

“Bella?” I looked up to see my dad walking to me.

“Dad, look at this, it’s like a compass.”

“I’m surprised that you found it so soon,” he replied, pensively.

 I looked at him confused. “I just felt the need to come in here,” I replied simply and returned to looking at the stone in the center of the circle.

“It’s amethyst,” he said answering my unspoken question.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s considered to be the heart of the house,” he told me softly as he came to stop just outside the circle.

“What is it?" I whispered. He was looking at me intently, his eyes asking me a question that I wasn’t sure I knew the answer for, leaving me feeling a little nervous.

“It’s a circle.”

_No, really?_

 Dad turned and moved over to one of the areas that had less of the entangled plants. He knelt down to run his hand over the dirt.

“Bella come here for a moment.”

 I walked over knowing what he was going to ask of me. I hadn’t done it in so long. It was a type of game that he had taught me when I was five. We would do it on and off for years, when mom wasn’t around. He told me that I couldn’t tell her because it might upset her. Knowing that it was something special for just the two of us, I complied. We stopped when I started high school and mom was trying to get me more involved in a social life.

 I knelt down beside him and ran my hand over the dirt, in a loving manner as he had taught me to do all those years ago. I could feel a tinkling of energy beneath my palm. It felt very different and much more pleasant then that harsh arid sand back home. I took a deep breath to release all other thoughts and concentrated on the ground below me.

“Earth, attend to me,” I whispered and felt a glow of energy.

 I could smell the perfect scent of all things growing, as it lovingly engulfed me, waiting for my request. I channeled my thoughts of growth and new beginnings from my hands into the soil.

 It released out of me and spread itself into the ground. I could feel it slowly seep into the floor of the greenhouse until it stopped at the walls. The energy hummed in pleasure and then dulled down into nothing.

“Thank you,” I said.

 I didn’t realize that I had closed my eyes in the process, then I opened them to see the sight in front of me. Plants, trees, and bushes were in motion. Everything was waking up from its slumber. Green grass appeared slowly up from the ground, while tightly closed buds of flowers released their grip and let forth- bold colors with heavenly smells.

This was the part that I loved to see. Dad and I stood there to watch the display of waking life, with quiet awe.

“Charlie!” I heard my mom’s strangled voice from behind us.

 I spun around quickly I saw my mother and aunt had joined us. Mom’s face was scrunched up in anguish, her hands tightened into fists at her side, body completely stiff. She was looking directly at dad.

“You promised!!” She yelled at him.

 I looked at dad to see him look ashamed for a moment. I didn’t like that mom was blaming him for what I had done. Without really thinking, I stepped forward and took one of my mother’s fists into my hands to try to calm her. “No mom, dad didn’t do this, it was me,” I told her gently.

 My words had the opposite effect. Her head jerked back to me with a look of surprise and horror mixed, her mouth started to move but without sound.

“How?” she was able to finally whisper brokenly. “I taught you nothing.”

 I could feel dad coming to stand next to me to take mom into his arms.

“Shhhhh, Renee, this was part of the reason we came back.” I could hear him whisper into her hair. “You knew that we would have to address this.”

 I looked over at my aunt to see her reaction and found her looking at me with excitement, but not with the horror that mom had expressed.

 Feeling totally confused, and getting rather scared I had looked back at my parents.

“Dad?” I asked, not exactly sure what question I should ask him first.

“It’s okay, Bella. We’ll talk about this in a few minutes. If you could please go with your aunt, have her show you your new room.”

 I walked out of the there, not quite looking where I was being led. The fascination I had of the house was lost on me at that moment, feeling only a sinking weight in my stomach; nervous about why mom had freaked out over what I had done.

 I knew that it was something dad wanted to keep quiet about and that it wasn’t something that we had truly talked about, since it was more of a game from when I was a child. It was surprising to see her reaction though. It didn’t seem like a big deal when dad and I did it, but to mom, it was as if I had committed a crime.

 When we stopped inside a room upstairs, I realized that Aunt Margaret had been talking for some time. I looked at her and smiled to show her that I did not mean to ignore her.

 She came over and gave me a hug for comfort.

“It will be okay,” she whispered. “All will be explained and we’ll start your training.”

  _Training?_

I must have asked it out loud, because she gave me a quick squeeze and then released me.

She looked directly into my eyes, with a small smile. “Yes, training. It’s obvious that Charlie has taught you something of our heritage, but the reactions from you and your mother tell me that it’s very rudimentary. Except, what I saw in the greenhouse showed the control of maturity, which is a complete surprise.”

 I shook my head at her, still completely confused by what she was saying.

“I don’t understand what you are telling me,” I told her, frustrated.

“Bella, your mom and dad are part of a long history of the land we are standing on. Promises were made years ago to protect this land and each generation upholds those promises. Now it’s time for them to keep theirs and to train you to carry on.”

“I’ve made no promise of the sort. Phoenix is my home,” My voice rising, clearly annoyed. Why couldn’t she stop beating around the bush and tell me the truth? What promise?

“No Bella, it truly isn’t. Your dad told me that you never felt like you fit in; that you had few friends and almost no social activities outside of your time with your mother. It was clear that you were meant to be here. We can’t escape this promise.”

 When did dad tell her this? He never spoke of such a conversation with the family here. I knew my mother had a married brother and that was about the extent. I never heard about what they did for a living or that the neighborhood they lived in was as grand as it is. Now we were here because someone had to make sure that the lawn was mowed?

“So, are we some sort of caretakers?”

“Yes, that’s a good way of describing our job here,” she smiled.

“That doesn’t explain why mom is upset. Dad just had me give a greeting. It’s no big deal.”

 Her smiled widen and laughed.

  _What the hell?_

“That was more than a greeting. It was Earth magic. Very powerful Earth magic and it was accepted, acknowledging the promise from the Swan family.”

“Magic? Let me guess we’re Witches,” I said sarcastically.

“Yes, we are,” A soft reply came from the doorway behind me.

 I turned to see mom and dad standing just outside of the room. Both of their faces showed no humor. My mom’s revealed a deep sadness and my dad’s worry, but with purpose.

 It was my turn to laugh, albeit slightly hysterically. “I’m a Witch?”I asked pointing to my chest.

“Yes,” dad replied soberly.

“You two…” I said pointing to mom and dad then turned to look at my aunt as well, “and you are all Witches?”

 Mom just shook her head in affirmation. They were not joking at all.

“Okay. Things just keep getting better and better don’t they?” I muttered sitting down hard on the bed, talking to no one in particular.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SMeyer
> 
> Beta'd by Keepingupwiththekids
> 
> A big thank you to Sweet Dulcinea!

   I had been sitting in my bedroom for what felt like hours and it was…it had been over three hours. The light outside had faded considerably, and was fast approaching night. I had so much going on in my head that I just shut down the world around me.

 Mom, dad, and Aunt Margaret had left me alone after their little announcement. Dad, knowing my emotional state, made sure to give me a little time and space. He understood that when I had my questions ready, I would go to him.

 I think the most obvious question I should ask, is what does it entail to be a Witch? Apparently my “greeting the soil” was more than what was normal human behavior, which I had a feeling about already, but was there something more to it? Do I get to ride a broomstick? Get a black cat? Buy a pointy hat and go Goth? Make a pact with the devil?

 What bugged me more than this label of “Witch” was my parent’s hidden background. Well, hidden from me. Why did they leave Forks if they were to be some sort of caretaker of this house? What exactly was this promise and why did I have to make it too?

 Finding some sort of courage, I went to look for dad. Everything was quiet upstairs and took the stairs down to the first floor, which I had yet to explore. Smelling some sort of food, I headed to what I hoped was the kitchen. I found a door near the greenhouse that looked like it swung open both ways. Light was pooling on the wooden floor from the crack at the bottom and gently pushed it open to see that it was the kitchen.

 Mom was sitting at a small table on the other side of the room, while dad had his back to me, fixing a cup of ice tea. Both looked up as I entered the room.

“Do you want something to eat?” Mom asked me quietly. “There is some lasagna that your Aunt Maggie left for us.”

 I walked over to the counter near the stove where the paper plates were sitting on top. I grab a plate and cut a piece of the still warm pasta dish. I didn’t say anything as I walked over to the table to sit and eat my meal.

 When I finished, I took my plate over to the make-shift garbage can and put my knife and fork into the sink. I was trying to prolong the question and answer session, but I needed answers more than I wanted to run away at this point.

 Taking a deep breath, I glanced up at them. Mom’s face was a bit puffy from crying and dad was wearing a concerned expression. Seeing as he would be the one to give me the truth, I directed my question towards him.

 “So, we’re Witches. What does that mean for me?”

“I can tell you that we are not like what most fairy tales make us out to be,” dad said calmly.

“What can we do?” I pressed.

“We have affinities to the Elements. We have the ability to act as a type of conduit with energy. You, for example, are an Earth Witch.”

I looked at him confused.

“What you did in the greenhouse to make the plants grow takes Earth energy. I am also an Earth Witch and your mother is a Fire Witch.”

“What does that mean?” Images from the movie Firestarter and the “Pyro” character from the X-Men films ran through my head.

“I cannot start a fire from nothing if that’s what you are thinking. It has to be present in some form for me to guide it,” mom replied, finally coming out of her lethargy.

“So we don’t ride on broomsticks or pray to the Devil?”

Dad laughed. “No. Nothing like that. We actually believe in gods, but not like you would find in Christianity or Judaism. It’s a loving relationship and we have been gifted by them to take care of this land.”

“That’s something else I wanted to know. Aunt Margaret said that a promise was made to take care of this place. What did she mean by promise?”

“Forks was settled by thirteen original families that made up a Coven around the 1870’s. In a spell created by the first settlers, they bound themselves as protectors to this area. There is great power here and it needed to be cared for, nurtured. It is a promise that has been passed down from each generation.”

“So the Swans are part of this Coven?”

“Yes, and the McCarty’s, your mom’s family. All the large houses that you saw when we drove in are part of the area of the original settlement.”

 I looked at mom for my next question, afraid that I would set her off again in tears.

“Mom, why did get you upset when I greeted the soil?”

 She took a moment to collect herself, but still looked stressed, before she answered my question.

“I was upset… I mean I am upset, because the greeting wasn’t just a greeting. It was your promise to take care of this area, to become part of it.”

“What do you mean my promise and to become part of it?” My throat was tightening from nerves.

“It means that you have sworn to be part of the Coven and uphold the original promise. You can leave this area for a short amount of time, but never truly live anywhere else. You have given part of yourself to the land. It accepted you and expects you to fulfill your end of the agreement made by our ancestors.”

_What the hell does that mean?_

I looked at dad, not liking what I was hearing from mom.

“How was it that you were able to live in Phoenix for so long then? What would happen if I did leave for a good amount of time?”

“We never gave our oath to this area. We left before your mom could do so, and my family was still around, so it wasn’t necessary for me to make my pledge. Usually we don’t need to give our promise until we are needed to help the Coven.”

“So why did you have me do it?”

“Bella, I know I tricked you into giving your oath without giving you the option, but it was needed. There are some things happening with the Coven that all of the families who are close of age, are required to give it at this time. Shortly after I left you upstairs, I went back down to the greenhouse and gave my promise.”

“Why?”

“There are some problems that we will talk about later when we have more information.”

  _There we go again, talking to me like I’m a six year old and don’t understand anything._

“Okay, why else did you come back?” I asked, trying to not show my anger.

“You need to be trained. We kept this life a secret for various reasons, including us trying to live a normal life where we could make our own choices. We thought everything was working towards that end, but duty called us to come back. It seems that even without the oath, the Power knows us.”

“The Power?”

“It’s what we call the God force or Energy that is in all of us and deeply part of this land. It’s the easiest answer to give since it really can’t be fully explained in words. Tomorrow, you are going to meet your cousin who is closer to your age. He is nineteen and a freshman in college. He will probably be able to help you out more so than we can since he has been living here. He is also an Earth Witch.”

“Okay,” was the only answer I could give them. My body was finally feeling the exhaustion from the lack of sleep from this week. The rest of my questions were going to have to wait until later.

I yawned and stretched my arms out in front of me.

“Go to bed, sweetheart. Everything will work out,” dad said.

 I had reservations about things working out and I could tell from his voice that he did too. If the problems were big enough for us to move back, what exactly would be okay? What was it that I had to do to fulfill my promise? What aren’t they telling me?

 I went back upstairs and just managed to clean my face and brush my teeth, before I stumbled over to the bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

-O-O-O-O-

 The sound of a bird chirping woke me. It was extremely loud and cheerful to my ears.

  _Too cheerful…damn bird._

 I popped an eye open to look towards the light source I could feel behind my closed lids. From beyond the sheer curtains, they revealed that it was morning, or at least what I thought was morning in all this grey weather.

 Rolling over onto my back to look at the alarm clock on the bedside table, it showed that it was nine in the morning. I must have been extremely tired, because I didn’t wake once or remember any sort of dream during the night, just blissful blackness.

 Remembering that I was going to spend time with my aunt and cousin, Emmett, I got out of bed to take a shower.

 One good thing about this house was that I had my own private bathroom. In Phoenix, we had to share one bathroom. It wasn’t exactly fun. Mom was always playing with new products and the small bathroom would be filled with them. I lost one too many toothbrushes to multiple bottles of face products crowding the counter.

 Washing off what felt like a few days worth of traveling, I felt a bit more relaxed. The comfort of my favorite shampoo gave me a much needed feeling of familiarity and security. The knots in my body succumbed to the hot water and let all my troubled thoughts rinse away down the drain.

 I dressed quickly in jeans and one of my long sleeved henley shirts. I didn’t know what today entailed with extended family coming over, but if it involved unpacking, I didn’t want to ruin anything of my nicer items of clothing. They were going to have to take me as I am.

 Looking at the clock to see that I had a good fifteen minutes before their arrival, I decided to unpack my books. I wanted to retain a few more moments of calm before I had to face my family.

 In the daylight, and with a clearer head, I got a better look at my room. It was the size of a master bedroom in most homes, but I had to remind myself that we were now living in a mansion. I had a queen size canopy bed with a cozy lilac bedspread and matching sheer curtains tied to the dark wood posts.

 My windows faced the front of the house, off to the right, with a large window seating area in the center. Along one of the walls was shelving for books or any knick-knacks that I may want to display on them. The other wall had a dark wood desk with matching chair. It was placed closer to the windows to catch more of the light that came through the clear panes of glass.

 Lastly, there was a dark wood chest of drawers with a mirror above it, near the bathroom door. It was well polished and showed my reflection with the rest of the room behind me. While the mirror reflected the loveliness of the bedroom, the ordinariness of my brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin felt completely out of place. I was never entirely comfortable around beautiful, antique things such as the furniture around me. I always felt out of place or even that I might accidentally break something.

 I turned away from the image to start unpacking my books until I was called to come down stairs. It was the distraction that I needed to take me out of my thoughts.

 I heard my aunt and cousin before I saw them. They were talking with my parents as I was coming around the corner, into the room where the voices emanated. I stopped short in surprise to take in the size of the large man, whose back was currently to me. He was absolutely HUGE!

  _Holy Steroids! He’s a house!_

 “Bella!” My aunt’s happy voice rang out to me from somewhere left of the “Living Wall”. This in turn caused him to pivot and face me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was only scary in height. His features were handsome and open in expression. Brilliant blue eyes, wide smile, curly dark hair, and his mother’s dimples.

 I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“Bella this is your cousin Emmett, Emmett this is Bella,” my aunt formally introduced us.

 Emmett, smiling widely, came over and picked me up from the floor in a big hug that was amazingly gentle for his stature.

“Emmett, put Bella down! You’re probably scaring the girl!” I heard Aunt Margaret yell. Emmett pulled his face away just enough, without releasing me from our embrace, to see my expression. I still had a big grin on mine. The whole situation was too funny, I could just imagine what we looked like to everyone in the room with us: A big teddy bear of a man hugging a little rag doll of a girl.

“Nah, she’s fine,” he replied grinning back at me, but he put me down shortly afterwards so we could sit at the table to eat breakfast.

 My parents looked relived to see that Emmett and I were getting along nicely. They knew that I didn’t have a lot of friends back in Phoenix, but seeing my comfort around my cousin gave them hope.

 I learned a little about him during the meal, but I had a feeling that I wouldn’t find out more of the “Witch stuff” until we were alone.

 Emmett had graduated from Forks High School this past May. He had been captain of the football and basketball teams. With his physique, I wasn’t at all surprised by this information. He had been scouted by a few colleges to play football with a full scholarship, in some of the more exotic locations in the country, but he was sticking closer to home.  

 What did amaze me was that he was starting college in a few weeks to major in Engineering. Under his laidback demeanor, was a brain. I felt a true sense of pride for him for not resting on his physical attributes and pursuing academia.

 After breakfast, it was suggested that we take a drive through Forks, and to the high school, so I could become acquainted with the town. School in Forks would be starting on Monday, which gave me only four days to prepare with supplies.

 I grabbed a jacket and my purse, Emmett led me outside to his jeep that looked like it had seen the bottom of a mud pit quite a few times.

“Since the high school is where you will be headed towards the most, I’ll start with directions on how to get there,” he volunteered.

 Whatever thoughts I was having about my “unknown family” for the past week, I was glad to have at least one member that I felt good to be around.

 Emmett turned on his stereo. Some heavy rock music blasted all around me and I threw my hands over my ears.

“Sorry!!!” He turned it down quickly, looking ashamed.

 I laughed at his contrite expression. “It’s okay Emmett, it just surprised me,” I said lowering my hands back to my lap. “What’s with everyone blasting their music around here?”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a silver car that drove by last night, playing their music loud as well.”

“Ah, that’s Edward.”

 We drove for a bit, passing a few houses. He named some of the families that lived in each, but I couldn’t remember all of them. As we came across the modern house, where I saw the two women standing yesterday, he pointed out that it was his.

“Emmett?” I asked, confused. He already had a home, I mean mansion, right out of high school?

“Hmm?”

“How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

“I thought you lived with your parents and were about to head off to college.”

 He laughed. “We live close to my family, your family too. That’s McCarty property. We moved in about a month ago.”

“Wait, what do you mean we?”

“Rosie and I live there.”

“Rosie?”

“Yeah, Rosie. My wife,” he explained, goofy grin on his face, with thoughts most likely of Rosie.

  _What the Hell?_

“You’re married?” I blurted out.

 Emmett’s face crinkled up in confusion and then understanding dawned on him.

“Bella, how much do you know about our families?” He asked seriously.

“Almost nothing.”

“Well a lot of us marry young. It’s not a big deal, but I know this is all new to you.”

“Okay.” Statistics of marrying young and high divorce rates ran through my head. My cousin seemed like a smart guy, not sure why he would marry right after high school. These things didn’t always end in a peaceful manner.

“I can see that you are a bit uncomfortable. I’m probably not the best person to give you the family history. I’ll leave that to Jasper, he’s our scholar.”

“Jasper?”

“Yeah, you’ll meet him tomorrow or at the ‘End of Summer Barbeque’ on Saturday. All of the families will be there.”

 We were quiet for a few moments, but more because Emmett was trying to avoid a large, mud filled pothole along the back way we were taking, rather than from any awkwardness between us. We had turned off our road earlier and drove down a different route than when we arrived.

 It was all trees, but they were more clustered along this route. It made me a little nervous, due to an uneasy feeling of being watched. I thought I was being silly and tried to focus my attention back on Emmett, only to see a look of concentration on his features. Did he feel it too?

 Once he noticed me looking, he turned to me and smiled.

“So, will all thirteen families be there?” I asked to try to get the conversation going again.

 He laughed. “Well, yes all of the families will be there, but you have to understand it’s not just one family per name, its lots of kids, uncles, aunts, …It will also be the first time in months that the Swan family will be there,” he finished almost morosely.

 “Why would it be the first time in months?”

 He looked over at me surprised. “You don’t know?”

“Should I?”

“Granny Swan, your dad’s mother, died this past January.”

“ _What?”_ I remembered dad seeming a bit depressed back during the winter holidays, but I thought it had to do with work problems.

 I shook my head. “I had no idea. I didn’t know I had a grandmother that had been living all that time.”

Emmett was starting to look uneasy in his seat.

“Emmett, it’s okay. I didn’t know her. Dad had always made it sound like we were the only family. I knew that I had an aunt, which I’m guessing is your mother, but other than that, nothing.”

He looked at me shocked, and nearly drove us off the road, before righting us. When we got to the high school he parked in a spot near the front doors, and then cut the engine.

“Bella, mom told me you knew very little about what we are before you moved here. I’m surprised that you didn’t know anything about your immediate family.”

“I’ve had so many shocks this past week that I’m not sure what I should be paying attention to first,” I began quietly, but could feel myself becoming overwhelmed and upset. “We had to pack up and move here within a week with no explanation, a childhood game with my dad turned out to be more than a game, we now live in a mansion when most of my life was spent in a modest home, and finally I have family that I didn’t know existed or died only recently.”

 He reached over and wiped my cheek. Apparently, I had started to cry from releasing my pent up emotions.

“You will find out that being part of this Coven will mean that there will always be someone to help or answer questions. I’m trying to remind myself that I need to give you certain info slowly. The more we talk, the more I think I need to introduce you to some of the others as soon as possible.”

 He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone, hitting speed dial.

“Hey, Babe,” he said with a smile when I heard a muffled greeting.

  _Must be Rosie._

“Yes, I’m with her now…, I wanted to know if you and Alice want to come meet us at the Coffee Shop for lunch in another hour,” he said and then looked over and gave me a wink.

“Great!!.... Yeah, got it, sure….see you soon. Love you!”

“Rosie?” I asked.

“Yup, you’ll meet her in another hour. I asked Alice to join us as well. She’ll be a senior like you this year. She’s great.”

“Thanks Emmett. I’m sorry that I just unloaded on you.”

“Bella, it’s my pleasure. I’m surprised that you are handling this as well as you have,” he told me seriously, but could see a faint flush on his cheeks. Was he not use to such praise?

 I leaned over and gave him a hug and received an equally generous one in return. This cousin thing was turning into something better than I expected. With Emmett, I felt that I had my first true friend.

 -O-O-O-O-

  After about an hour of sightseeing around the main area of town, we pulled into the parking lot of The Coffee Shop. I was surprised to see next to us a brilliant red BMW. It was a typical car for Phoenix, but for here in backwoods Forks? It stood out like a sore thumb. What was even more noticeable, was a canary yellow Porsche on the other side of it. The two next to each other, along with Emmett’s blue jeep, reminded me of the scene from “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy opens her front door into ‘Munchkin Land’ and everything became color. These obviously expensive cars looked out of place in the land of white wash and green Forks.

 I didn’t think about them too much after I got out of the jeep and walked towards the restaurant, because a wave of nerves hit me. I would be meeting more like me, Witches.

 When we walked in, the hostess was all bright smiles. It was more on the fake side with a twinge of fear coming from her. I knew Emmett could be imposing, but I didn’t think he was that scary in person.

“Hi, _HI_!” came the young woman’s voice starting as a medium squeak, but rose to the level of a high pitch whistle. “Your usual table is ready and your wife and friends are here!!!”

 She really needed to lay off the caffeine. She looked like she was going to pop any second, but what I could tell was that she was _definitely_ scared of Emmett.

 I looked up at Emmett to see that he was slightly uncomfortable, but he just smiled and thanked her before he started walking to a booth in the back of the diner.

 As we got closer, I saw that there were three people waiting for us. Two of them I recognized as the women from yesterday, the tall beautiful blonde and the petite dark-haired girl. Both were gorgeous in their own way and made me feel a bit inferior with my looks. The third person was a tall blond man who had his arm around the petite girl. All three were looking our way.

“Hey baby,” Emmett said to the blonde women and leaned down to kiss her on the mouth.

“Hey yourself,” she replied with a smile that seemed to promise him more of those kisses later.

 Emmett tuned back to me and brought me over to his side where he placed a brotherly arm around my shoulders.

“Bella, this is Rosalie, my wife,” he announced proudly.

 I nodded and whispered a quiet “hello”. I definitely felt out of my league around her. Her gorgeous face gave me a small smile in return, but was searching mine intently.

“This is Alice and Jasper.” Emmett waved his hand lightly to the couple sitting opposite Rosalie.

 I followed his motion the other side of the booth to find myself rather amused to see the dark-haired girl practically jumping in her seat with a beaming smile on her face.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Bella!!” She said as she did indeed jump up to embrace me in a full on hug.

“Thank you Alice, it’s nice to meet you too.” I smiled genuinely at her.

 After being released from Alice’s hug, Jasper rose from his seat to shake my hand.

 Emmett ended up sitting next to Rosalie, while Alice had me sit by her. We started with a little of the typical small talk of what I thought of Forks, and what to expect next week at school. I found out that Jasper was also a senior and worked on the school newspaper. Alice was taking a good amount of art classes this year. She planned to be a designer and wanted to explore as many avenues as possible before she decided on interior, fashion or possibly architecture. From the stylish outfit she wore, it was obvious that she had talent.

 Rosalie and Emmett contributed a little to the conversation. When the thoughts of a shopping trip to Port Angeles was mentioned for Sunday, the plans got hot and heavy between Alice and Rosalie. I wasn’t a big fan of shopping for clothes. I was more of a hit and run purchaser. I got in and got out fast with what I needed. I would never understand the time people could put into trying to find the “perfect” black dress or pair of shoes.

 I only perked up when I heard the mention of a book store.

 After eating our lunches, the mood became a bit more somber, signaling that the conversation would turn to the topic of the Coven.

 The first to speak was Rosalie. “Bella, I know Emmett called because he thought that you needed a little more help getting acclimated to Forks. From what Maggie told us, you were pretty shocked last night about who and what we are.”

“Yes, it’s all very new to me,” I kept my voice low.

“I think this conversation would be best back on family property; too many eyes and ears here,” Jasper suggested, as he took a hard look around the room.

 As we left, a good many eyes were on us. Even though the booth we had sat at was a private and separate table from the rest of the restaurant, the stares told me that we were the focus of attention and nothing would be kept quiet for long if we decided to talk about more personal things here in the diner.

 Emmett drove us back to his house, with the others following behind us in their cars. We took the main route this time and made it there in what felt like seconds. Considering we were moving at eighty miles per hour, it probably was seconds.

 After a brief tour from Rosalie of her home, which I found to be very comfortable for such a modern built, we settled in the large living room.

 Jasper and Alice sat on one of the cream colored leather couches. Emmett and Rosalie on another, which left me on a matching chair that was positioned as to give the advantage of seeing both sets of couples for our conversation.

 Emmett leaned forward a bit and looked from me to Jasper.

“Jasper, I think Bella needs a history of Forks and our family’s connection to this area. It might answer a few of her questions,” he said.

 Everyone agreed and turned to face me.

 I swallowed hard, not sure if I was ready for the full story. Like with my discoveries yesterday and the conversation that followed, with my aunt and parents, I knew that I couldn’t hide from what Jasper was about to tell me. It was better to know the truth. I looked at Jasper and nodded my head for him to begin the history lesson.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SMeyer
> 
> Beta'd by Keepingupwiththekids

 Jasper leaned forward on the couch, taking Alice’s hand in his, rubbing his thumb gently over her knuckles.

“Bella, the history of our family and this land are intimately tied together,” Jasper began in a voice that left me feeling calm. “I will try to be brief, but if you have any questions just ask me.”

I nodded my head for him to continue.

“Technically, Forks became a town in the summer of 1945, but had been established by thirteen families in the 1870’s. I tried to collect as much information as possible from all of the thirteen families, but a good amount of it was lost over the years. The Cullen’s seemed to have the most.” Jasper said this as he leaned down to kiss Alice on the nose. She smiled in return.

“Alice, is that your last name?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m a Cullen. Jasper is a Whitlock, Rosalie was a Hale, and Emmett is a McCarty.”

 Apparently telling me these names was supposed to be of some importance, if it was, then it was lost on me.

“You look confused,” Jasper said, as he turned himself a bit more in my direction before he began again.

I just nodded and gave a small smile, letting him know that was indeed the case.

“The thirteen families that settled here were The Cullens, Whitlocks, Hales, McCartys, Swans, Platts, Webers, Stanleys, Newtons, Crowleys, Mallorys, Yorkies, and the Brandons. From the information I was able to gather, all of these families were friendly with each other before they decided to move to this area. The details are unclear how that came about, but from what I could glean from some of the old journals, it was like a calling to them.”

“A calling? Dad said something about this place holding a power that needed to be protected. The way he made it sound, it’s like it’s alive,” I said trying to piece my limited bits of information together.

 Jasper nodded his head. “That may be what happened since all thirteen of the families packed up and moved to the middle of nowhere about the same time.”

“Where did the families come from?” I asked.

“A few came from Chicago, and the others from Seattle. Before they had made the move, they had sent a few representatives of the families to scout the area. When they arrived they met members of the local Tribe, The Quileutes. I know that it was a Cullen who acted as leader, it was unclear who else was with him, but I do know that at that time the thirteen families had not yet declared themselves a coven.”

 “So, the power in the area that had called to the families had let the Tribe know that they were coming. Richmond Cullen from his diary was a little shocked, but the Tribe welcomed them without question. It was the Tribe that picked out this land for the families to build on,” Jasper said as he lightly tapped his foot on the hardwood floor.

“Was the Tribe like us?”

“Witches? No, but there are similarities in both our spiritual practices. There is respect for life and can attune to nature to a certain degree.”

“So the families came to help the Quileute Tribe that lived here?” I questioned.

“Yes, the level of power here is more than that they could handle. This is where the journal gave a little more info. The chief had a dream about the family’s arrival.”

“A dream?”

 Jasper just nodded and held up is hand in a gesture to show he wasn’t finished.

“The dream also revealed that the Tribe would diminish in numbers and that this new clan would come to relieve them of some of their duties as protectors. You might have seen in town, signs pointing to the Reservation. The Quileute Tribe is much smaller than it used to be, but they are still there doing their duties. We just have the bulk of it.”

“What duties are you talking about?”

“It’s a promise to guard this land. There is great power here that others with not so nice intentions have coveted. If it falls into the wrong hands, the power can be drained, killing everything living within it. We make sure that this area is healthy and a sort of sanctuary for all life. The Power entrusted the Tribe and then our families to make sure this place is protected. The duties can be anything simple enough for one Witch, with the right Element, to handle to something the whole Coven needs to get involved with.”

 The wheels in my head turned a bit faster with this bit of knowledge. Was the reason we needed to come back to Forks because of a duty for the whole Coven?

“How did the families become a Coven and start this… guarding?” I asked.

“What I found was sketchy, but it was soon after meeting with the Tribe. I think it was a ritual that was passed from the Tribe to us. One of the journals mentioned that a representative from each of the thirteen families were present for it.”

“Bella?” Emmett called to me. I looked over at him. He seemed to be trying to find the correct words for whatever he was about to ask me. “You said that you had a played a type of game, that wasn’t a game. Mom said that you had activated the Swan’s promise in the Greenhouse. What exactly did you do?”

“It was something that dad taught me as a little girl. We would have brown spots in areas of the yard, and would place our hands over the area and ask the Earth to tend to it. I did the same thing in the greenhouse, but it felt so much bigger.” I told him.

 Looking around the room, I could see everyone was thoughtful.

“That’s close to what I had to do to make my promise,” Emmett replied.

“I haven’t seen the Swan Greenhouse since January, but it wasn’t too pretty at the time,” Rosalie mentioned.

“So, you helped bring a few trees back to life?” Jasper asked, encouraging me with his gentle but persuasive voice to talk about what I could do.

“No, it was the entire greenhouse and some of the area in the back yard. Charlie had me take a look this morning,” Emmett interrupted, before I could respond.

Three pairs of eyes locked on me with extreme astonishment.

“What?” I asked, getting really uncomfortable from their looks, slouching down slightly in my seat.

_Okay, this is where the friendship ends. I’m too weird._

“No one Witch has been able to take on that amount of sick trees and plants alone. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had asked Charlie twice if it was just Bella. He said yes. Not even I can do that much,” Emmett continued talking to the others.

“Carlisle needs to know as soon as possible.” Alice said, leaning forward to address Emmett.

“Um, what did I do wrong?” I’m sure that I had gone pale from the feel of unease running its way up my spine.

 All eyes were back on me and then something strange happened. Alice smiled brightly at me.

“Nothing, you did something amazing!!” Alice cried out in happiness.

“What? Why?” Still very much confused, but not feeling as much dread as I was before Emmett’s explanation.

“Bella, no Earth Witch has been gifted with as much power as you have apparently displayed!” Alice told me, smile still in place. “I would love to see it!”

“Wait! Would someone tell me why this is so amazing, as Alice puts it?” I still wasn’t getting it.

“Alice, she is still new to her powers. Charlie said her knowledge is very limited,” Emmett replied, trying to calm Alice.

“Bella, our powers, when working alone, usually can cover a very small area. Like a large tree or two at a time. It takes effort because if we push too hard it tires us quickly. Only a very strong Witch can cover more distance and I haven’t seen anything to your extent,” Emmet told me. “But, don’t be afraid. The Power would never have given you that much of a gift if you couldn’t be expected to handle it.”

“Okay. So what do I do with it?”

“I’d say your training needs to start immediately. There are a few Earth Witches who would be great teachers for you. Your dad will probably be one of them, I will be another. Esme Cullen would be another good choice,” he finished, by looking over at Alice for confirmation.

 “There is something else I would like to ask,” I began quietly looking at my hands afraid that they would see my fear. “Why was it necessary for my family to come back? Is this duty so big that all of the families needed to be here to use their powers together?”

“Good, you were paying attention.” Jasper said. “Yes, it’s pretty big, but you can’t have this information yet because you are not of age or even mated to help the adult Witches.”

“I think from what we know of Bella she should be told. Edward has been, why not Bella?” Alice asked.

“Edward is different. As a Cullen, he will be the next leader. She isn’t eighteen yet. She hasn’t been initiated, trained, or mated. What exactly could she do?” Rosalie piped in this time waving a hand in my direction.

“She needs to start training. I won’t be headed off to college for another week. I can start on some of the first steps. Alice, could you talk to Esme tonight about lessons and I’ll talk to Charlie,” Emmett suggested.

_Hello! I’m in the room!_

All eyes flew back to me.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Alice smiled in confirmation.

“I’m still in the dark about this. Apparently I have the ability to heal plants, but a lot at one time… wait! Dad said that he went to give his promise after I did. So it couldn’t all be me!” I said to Emmett.

“Bella, Charlie told me that he tried to give his promise, but nothing happened.”

 The dread was back full force in the area of my stomach.

  _Dad lied to me._

“He told you he gave his own pledge, didn’t he?” Emmett asked me softly.

“Yeah, he did.”

“He probably did it with good intentions.”

“Well, there have been a lot of those good intentions coming from him and look where it’s landed me.”

 “Bella, has Charlie told you why they left Forks?” Alice asked me in a cautious tone.

“He said it was to be able to make choices for themselves, but I’m beginning to realize it is much more than that.”

“It’s not my story to tell, but it is more than _that_. I can tell you that when they left here, it really was for the best for them and for you. When you are as close to everyone as we are in this Coven, nothing is a secret for long. Bad things happened before they left,” Alice explained, giving me an apologetic smile.

 The greeting between my aunt and my mom was extremely strained at first. Did those “bad things” come about because of my parents? Is this why we never had contact with our family here? Is this why mom freaked when I made my promise? I had too many damn questions and only a few true answers.

_This was really annoying. I feel like a fucking six year old being told that they were too young to understand adult conversation._

“Maybe we should get back to the history of our families,” Jasper offered.

“Sure,” I nodded at him, trying to get my annoyance under control.

“After meeting with the Tribe and the start of the construction of our houses, there was a ceremony involving members from each family. It was similar to what you described as happening in your greenhouse. Each Witch through their Element gave a promise to guard this land, with another promise that each generation to come, would too.”

“So this power knows us by blood?” I asked.

“Something like that. Our powers are inherited. Your Dad is an Earth Witch and your Mother is a Fire Witch, so it would be assumed that you would take on one of their powers.”

“You can’t choose? Can you be attuned to both?” I asked

“No, you are born with your Element and it is a rarity to see a Witch born with the ability to work more than one.”

“Esme and Edward can.” Emmett said.

“I’m not quite sure why that is. We may not fully understand the reasoning for some time. It hasn’t happened in years.” Jasper replied, shaking his head.

 Noticing my questioning look, Jasper explained that Esme, Alice’s mother, had the ability for Earth and Water, while Edward, her brother, had Air and Water.

 “It comes in handy when mom is tending her garden.” Alice said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

“So, tell me, what Element does everyone have?” I asked looking at each of them.

“I’m Air, as is most of the Cullen family,” Alice started then pointed to Jasper. “The Whitlocks are Water. The Hales are Fire, and the McCartys are Earth or Fire.”

“The Swans are Earth?” I asked.

“Mostly, then again there has been a few Fire or Water Witches over the generations. It just depends what the Power needs us to do for this land,” Jasper said.

“It sounds almost like we are born destined.”

“After reading some of the history, it would make sense. When we mate, it’s like we are paired up with a Witch who will be the best supporter in our abilities.”

“That’s the third time one of you mentioned “mated”. That sounds a little primitive. What do you mean by that?”

 The room got quiet after that and I saw that look of shock on their faces.

_Now what? Someone just sit me at the kids table._

“She doesn’t know,” Emmet said directly to Jasper.

“Oh boy,” Alice sighed and Rosalie crossed her arms over her chest with a hint of a smile on her lips, looking at Jasper.

 Jasper crossed and then uncrossed his legs, looking a little embarrassed.

“Um, Bella, there’s another thing that happened when the original families made the promise many years ago. They picked up an ability from the Tribe besides being in tuned to this area…” He stopped, running his hand through his already shaggy blond hair.

“Come on Jasper, haven’t you ever given someone _‘The Talk’_ before?” Emmett teased.

 Rosalie and Alice both giggled as Jasper turned a bit red.

“She’s _your_ cousin maybe you should do it,” He retorted.

Emmett threw his hands up in surrender. “You’re doing just fine there Whitlock.”

Jasper gave him a dirty look.

“Well, it seems that the Power, in order to insure that the right Witches are around to protect it, gave us the gift to imprint with another Witch.”

Emmett snorted what sounded like “gift, my ass”, and received another look from Jasper.

“What exactly do you mean by imprint?”

_Where the hell is Google when you need it?_

“What he means to say is that the Power gave us the ‘gift’ to recognize our soul mates, so there would be no mistaking who we should be with in order for our powers to function to their utmost ability and to carry on the line,” Rosalie explained using air quotations.

“Got it. How does that happen?”

“When we turn eighteen, we are considered to be full-fledge adult Witches, because that’s when the ability to imprint manifests itself. Both Witches need to be of age, or it doesn’t work. It’s like a physical knowing when it happens.”

A thought came to me. “Emmett? Is that why you married Rosalie so young?”

 He busted out laughing, like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. Rosalie smacked him on the arm and answered for him. “Yes, we imprinted when we were eighteen. We were married this past June, after graduation.”

“Congratulations,” I said automatically, which made Emmett laugh harder.

“Oh Bella, you should see your face!” Emmett finally managed to speak.

 Now it was my turn to give him a dirty look.

“You were absolutely stunned when you found out I was married.”

“Can you blame me for acting that way? It’s not something that’s done these days.” I defended myself.

“True, but we’re different,” Alice replied. “Once we imprint we live with our mates.”

“But so young? What happens in a few years if the relationship doesn’t work out, do you imprint again?”

Alice looked horrified. “No! There is no divorce among us. That’s what the gift of imprinting is, it points us in the direction of our mate and we are bonded to them for the rest of our lives.”

 I’m not usually a cynic, but this was way too farfetched for me.

“You’ll understand when it happens to you,” Alice said.

 “Okay.” 

 Wait… _What!?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SMeyer.
> 
> Beta'd by Keepingupwiththekids

The rest of the afternoon felt like a big blur. After hearing about my family history and this imprinting business, I just tuned out again. Everyone seemed to understand that maybe I needed a little more time to digest all this information so conversation focused on the forthcoming barbeque tomorrow. We would be going to a place called the cabin, which was owned by a few of the families as a sort of get-away home.

  In two short days, all that I knew in my life had been turned on its head. I didn’t know what to think and how much I could ask my parents, since they were closed mouth for years with anything that had to do with their life before Phoenix. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper seemed to be open, but they were still strangers in some sense.

 That’s another thing. I _just_ met them today but it felt like I had known them for much longer. They had befriended me quicker than the kids back in Phoenix and treated me with kindness. I guess this was the one plus out of this entire mess, and yes it was a mess.

 I didn’t know what else was going to be thrown at me at this point. I could deal with the fact that I was a Witch, since what I had already experienced with my “Element of Earth” wasn’t that scary. I was actually looking forward to this training they mentioned. I wanted to learn more about what I could do.

 Now this Imprint business was another story. It was expected to happen to me as well but I didn’t believe it. It sounded somewhat romantic in the sense that you are paired with your soulmate, but having this Power choose that person for you, felt unsettling. I knew that you had to be at least eighteen, but physically how did it happen? Alice said I would just know. We see some sort of cord linking us to the other person.

 Truthfully, I never thought much about getting married. I was planning to go to college first, then start my career hopefully as a writer in some form. There was never a guy that held my attention longer than a brief crush. Most guys acted really immature at my old school, so it didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything important. I was determined to get a full scholarship to one of the colleges in Arizona, so my time was devoted to my studies rather than parties.

 Around five o’clock, Emmett, Rosalie, and I left for his parent’s place for dinner. Alice and Jasper promised to see me tomorrow at the barbeque.

 Dinner at the McCarty house was relaxed thankfully. It was the first time that I had seen my mother at ease since we arrived. I found out that she grew up in this house that now belongs to her older brother, my Uncle Jason and his family.

 The house itself was the same age as ours. Aunt Maggie, as she asked me to call her, said that they were the original houses built when Forks was settled.

 After the meal, Emmett and Rosalie took me to the greenhouse in the back of the house. It wasn’t as large as ours, but it was well kept. Emmett said that only the original thirteen houses had greenhouses attached to the back of them.

 Looking around I saw that there was more order in here. Fruit trees were in one area, while flowers in another. It smelled and looked wonderful.

“This is where my mom trained me,” Emmett said.

“It’s beautiful.”

“She keeps it well tended. She grows a lot of our produce.”

 We walked over to a set of white wicker chairs near the back of the room and sat. We were silent for a moment, resting after eating such a large meal. Emmett stretched his arms over his head and yawned before settling back and looking at me.

“So, Bells. How are you holding up?”

“Okay, I think.”

“You looked like you really freaked out over the mating thing,” Rosalie said bluntly. Well at least I knew where I always stood with her.

“Yeah, it’s not something you hear every day.”

“It works out for the best,” Emmett said reaching to grab Rosalie’s hand to hold.”There has never been a mating that wasn’t meant to be.”

I shrugged. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it.”

Emmett laughed out loud. “Bella, you say the funniest things!”

 I looked over at Rosalie who just rolled her eyes at her husband. Well at least I didn’t have to deal with him on a daily basis.

“When it happens for you-”

 I threw my palm up to get him to stop that sentence. “Please! I do not want to think about that right now.”

“We’ll have to talk about it soon. Maggie said that your eighteenth birthday was coming up in a little over a month. I’m not saying that you’ll imprint immediately, but you need to be open to it happening. There are a few things about it that you will need to know. There is a ritual involved,” Rosalie said.

 I noticed that Emmett was getting a bit uncomfortable.

“How about we move on to more of your training?” Emmett said, cutting off Rosalie from speaking further.

“Sure,” I replied, relief flooding through me.

 He stood up, still holding Rosalie’s hand asking me to follow. We went over to a raised wooden table that was filled with rich looking soil. Emmett began to roll up his sleeves and asked me to do the same. After making sure that his clothes would not be in danger of getting dirty, I watched him as he gently placed his palm on top of the soil.

“Rose, my love, it’s a little chilled for what we are about to do. Mind giving me a little heat?”

 I saw that Rosalie had pulled a silver looking object from her front jean pocket. She flipped the lid, and realized that it was a lighter. She flicked the dial on, and an amber flame came to life. She looked completely mesmerized.

 What she did next scared the hell out of me. She caressed the flame with her hand like a lover would to a beloved’s cheek. I didn’t say anything in case it might distract her. In fact, I think I held my breath.

 Rosalie whisper words to the flame and it leapt onto her palm where it seemed to dance just for her.

 After a minute the flame spread out along her palm and calmed to a muted glow. She lowered her hand down to the soil and she continued to talk intimately to the flame. Almost instantly I felt the soil getting warm. I placed my own palm over the table, but not touching it directly. Indeed, it was warm and I could feel a subtle energy coming from the fusion of Earth and Fire.

“Thank you.” Rosalie murmured quietly and lifted her palm off the table, breaking her trance.

She looked at me and held up her hand to show me that it was unmarked.

“Bella, place your hand on the dirt, softly,” Emmett instructed me, as we both placed our palms flat on the soil.

 I felt a jolt of the power lying just below but I held my hand still, relishing the feel of the warm moist dirt. A sense of calm came over me from the contact and closed my eyes. I let all negative thoughts float away, just like Dad taught me.

“Now Bella, ask for the Earth to help you grow the seeds buried within the soil,” Emmett whispered to me.

 I concentrated on my tranquil thoughts and guided them to the table of soil below my hand. “Earth, attend to me,” I asked quietly. I felt the Earth respond with its energy building around me. I mentally asked for it to move to my hand. It playfully traveled to my palm and fingers, swirling, waiting for my request.

  _Help the little seeds grow. Find them and nurture them._

 The energy left me and sought out the seeds buried beneath and fused with them. I could feel the beginning of each seed’s life transform into a plant. Basil plants, to be exact. They acted like newborns, wailing into existence, spreading their limbs to enjoy the freedom of no longer having to be confined. I felt their joy and knew that my face broke into a smile from their “birth”.

_Ahhh…new life._

 The power soon started to calm after awakening the seeds and could feel one last lick of the energy against my palm asking permission to leave.

“Yes, thank you,” I said out loud and removed my hand from the soil. I turned to look at Emmett and Rosalie to see them staring at me. Emmett had a big shit-eating grin on his face and Rosalie’s eyebrows were almost up to her hairline.

 Emmett lightly punched me on the shoulder. “That was awesome!” and broke into a huge boyish smile.

“I’m beginning to think that you may have more to teach me than I do you,” He said. “You’re a real natural at this.”

Rosalie finally replied, softly, but reverently. “I have to agree that was amazing.”

“What did you see?” I asked her curiously, since she was Fire, and I was Earth.

 She held up her right hand that was entwined with Emmett’s. “Since we are mated I can feel what he is experiencing during the working of Earth magic.”

I turned to Emmett “Did you assist me? I didn’t feel anyone else in the soil with me. I could feel my Dad when we use to fix the lawn.”

“No, I wanted to just see how you worked before I tried to give any pointers.”

“So, do you have any?” I felt anxious, thinking that I might be missing something.

“Usually we need to cleanse the area, before we work, but whatever it is that you do to prepare seems to be enough. Thankfully this placed was primed earlier, so I didn’t stop you. We may need to go over a few ways of cleansing for future use. Also, most young Witches are more vocal in their work, you are mostly silent.”

“Should I talk aloud?”

“Not if you don’t need to,” he smiled

“I think we have done enough for tonight and will have another lesson on Sunday. Tomorrow is the barbeque and you’ll need plenty of rest. You’ll be meeting the entire Coven.”

 I froze over those words: _the entire Coven_. A crowd.

“Relax! Rose, Alice, Jasper, and I will all be there.”  I could tell he wanted to laugh over my expression, but he was pressing his lips together to keep from letting a full blown smile loose.

“Right, relax. No problem.”

 Emmett laughed and patted me on the back. “Come on cousin let’s get you back to the parentals.”

 I took one last look at the soil and saw young plants pushing their way up through the dirt. It looked like a struggle, but it would be worth it once they matured. The fresh food at the dinner table this evening was some of the best I had ever eaten. All the fruits and vegetables came from this garden. All grown with care, with the purpose to nurture us in turn so that we thrived.

 I wondered if it would be the same for me in this new life. Would I grow into something better here in Forks? Was my true purpose to help care for this land and the people who lived here?

 -O-O-O-O-

  I fell into another dreamless sleep that night and woke with the morning light streaming through my window. Today seemed to be sunnier, but not like Phoenix sunny. At least it wasn’t raining or cloudy. Looking out the window, I saw there were actual rays of sunshine pouring over the yard.

  I was dressed and made my way downstairs to find mom and dad in the kitchen preparing for the barbeque. I assisted with our contributions until it was time to leave for the cabin.

 I was feeling a bit nervous on the way there. I didn’t know anyone except for a handful of people. I really hated going to large parties. I always managed to do something to embarrass myself at some point without fail. I use to beg out of dad’s annual Christmas parties at the station after I had tripped and fell onto the dessert table when I was twelve. I had ruined not just my dress, but all of the sweets and Chief Weston’s wife’s designer dress and shoes. Needless to say, it was used as fodder for jokes for the rest of the year. The incident kept me away from making public appearances at large parties.

 When we arrived we had parked in front of the cabin along with several other cars.

 Emmett had said that the cabin itself was built about sixty years ago, but had been updated in the last decade with new modern appliances. It was settled in an open meadow with a stream running several feet away from the front of the house, disappearing into the tree line. It looked rustic on the outside, but a peek inside the windows, showed that it was comfortable.

  We walked around to the back of the house to get to the actual party. It was already crowded with a good amount of people.

 When Emmett said that it would be all of the families I didn’t realize how many people would actually be there. My guess would be over a hundred. My nervousness returned making me feel like I wanted to vomit.

  _Don’t let me fuck up, please. No major disasters._

 I started to look around until I found Emmett cooking on a grill; Rosalie was next to him talking to Alice and Jasper. I turned to dad and told him where I was going. As I made my way over to them, I felt eyes on me and turned my head to find a group of people who looked about my age all staring in my direction. A few of them held a friendly curiosity in their gaze, while two of the girls displayed open hostility.

 I nodded a shy greeting to those who were friendlier and kept walking.

 Alice and Rose gave me a hug in greeting while Jasper asked me to name my poison.

“A Coke, please.”

“Sure thing.” He replied and walked over to a drinks table.

“Hello cousin!!” Emmett bellowed happily from behind the grill. “You ready for the annual games?”

“Games?” Anything physical was not a good thing for me either. I was liable to hurt something or someone and create a “Bella Swan disaster moment”.

“Emmett, we talked about this,” Rosalie warned him.

“Oh come on! With Bella as my sidekick, how can we lose?” He whined.

“Bella, you don’t have to participate. Emmett just wants to beat Edward this year,” Rosalie said.

“We’ll be perfect for the Egg Run!” Emmett continued as if he didn’t hear Rosalie’s warning.

“What’s this about the Egg Run?” Jasper returned with my drink and handed it to me.

“Emmett is determined to beat Edward this year and he thinks with Bella, he’ll be able to do it,” Alice told him.

  Jasper laughed and looked down at her as she wrapped her arm around his waist. There was so much affection in that look that I felt like I was intruding.

“Are you partnering with Edward this year?” He asked her.

“I’m thinking I should. We never lose.” She made this last comment in the direction of Emmett who just huffed in return. “Yeah, I definitely should,” she said and kissed Jasper on the cheek.

 After, they both turned to me wearing the same smirk.

“What?” I asked feeling nervous.

Alice shrugged. “I think you should do it.”

“Do what exactly?” trying to get past the lump in my throat.

“Don’t worry Bella I’ll do all of the hard work!” Emmett called over while flipping the burgers.

 I looked at Rose, who seemed to be the only voice of reason, for her thoughts. “It’s up to you.”

  _Great, just fucking great._

“Hey Cullen, you’re going down this year!!” Emmett yelled to someone behind me.

 Alice turned towards the person as well with a big smile on her face.

“What do you think Edward? Think we can take him?” she asked.

“Oh Edward, you always win, I think you should!” came a voice behind me that simpered pure saccharine.

 “Absolutely,” said a melodious masculine voice with a twinge of brash to it. An annoying feminine giggle followed.

 I turned to face the newcomers.

 I felt my breath stop and my body freeze.

 I locked eyes with one of the most handsome men I had ever seen. He was tall, slightly on the lanky side, but his tight grey tee shirt showed that he had well toned muscles. His hair was a shade of dark bronze with emerald green eyes. He was absolutely the most perfect thing I had ever seen.

 I felt someone come up behind me and wrap their small arm around across my shoulder. Alice.

 “Edward, this is Bella, the new girl I told you about. Bella this is my twin Edward,” Alice happily announced beside me.

 This was _The_ Edward with the fast car, loud music, and he was going to be the next leader of the Coven. He did not look like what I had imagined Alice’s twin to look like, I thought he would have more of her characteristics, I was wrong, he was a god.

 I must have been staring because the girl standing next to Edward cleared her throat. I glanced over at her and recognized her as one of the girls who had given me the stink eye earlier. She would have been considered pretty if it wasn’t for sneer on her face that twisted her features into something unpleasant.

 “Sorry Bella. This is my cousin Lauren,” Alice said her voice much more subdued this time. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like her.

“Hi,” came her reply as she wrapped her arm through Edward’s

_Okay, I got it, he’s yours. Down girl._

 I looked back at Edward to find him still looking at me. His expression was that of someone smelling something bad, but was trying to hide it. His nose was slightly scrunched up which in turn gave his mouth a slight frown.

“So, she’s another Dirt Element?” Lauren asked Alice, seemingly bored, not bothering to look in my direction.

Edward said nothing against her rudeness.

‘Yes, I am Earth,” I replied politely. I didn’t have to stoop to her level.

“A dime a dozen…” she said rolling her eyes, no longer hiding her dislike of me.

“Lauren!” Alice admonished before I could say anything; which was probably for the best, because I wasn’t sure what to say in return. I was after all, new here.

“Oh please. It’s true! There are more Earth Witches than there is Air or Fire,” She retorted giving me a look that said I was lacking.

“So you are an Air or Fire Witch?” I asked trying to get the conversation to hopefully something more pleasant.

 Having to deal with the in-crowd in Phoenix, I usually wasn’t affected by someone trying to taunt me, but looking up at Edward, his face seemed to reflect Lauren’s boredom with me, for some reason it hurt and made me slightly angry.

 Who were they to judge me?

“I’m Air.” Lauren’s response was clipped.

“Lauren…” Alice gave another warning. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jasper coming to stand on the other side of Alice.

“Edward,” he greeted and I saw the green eyes and lush mouth crinkle up in a smile. They reached forward to shake each other’s hands.

  _I guess it’s just me then. Did I put on the wrong clothes today? Not enough perfume? Too much perfume?_

 Lauren’s demeanor changed as well with Jasper’s arrival. She leaned forward a bit to shake his hand as well, showing off her ample chest in a low cut, fitted pink t-shirt.

“Ah Lauren, you shouldn’t have.” Rose came up beside me and pointed to Lauren’s chest.”I’m flattered, but those don’t work on me.”

 Lauren leaned back quickly at Rosalie’s comment. A comment which I couldn’t help but give a slight snicker.

 Her eyes flashed back to me, fury evident in her features.

 “Lauren you know better,” Alice chimed back in, sounding exasperated before Lauren could say anything further.

 Lauren finally understanding that she wasn’t going to get the response that she wanted from us, decided to go back to her group of friends; most likely to gossip about how I was lacking in her eyes.

 Alice turned to me and apologized on Lauren’s behalf, but I was only half paying attention because Edward was still there. Jasper was speaking with him, but he looked over at me a few times during his discussion. Alice walked me over to join them, but I didn’t know what to say. My tongue failed me utterly being this close to him.

 I felt like such a dummy. I had seen good-looking men before. Jasper and Emmett were both attractive, but not like Edward. I just stood there and tried not to blush every time he looked in my direction. What’s wrong with me? I can be shy, but to be completely silent was something that had never happened to me. He’s just a boy; strike that, man, who is probably the most beautiful specimen I have ever seen.

 What’s really messed up with me being attracted to him is that he looks at me with the same look of distaste that Lauren had displayed earlier. Not to mention he did nothing to stop Lauren from her obvious rude remarks to me. They could have at least waited until they knew something about me before the snide remarks began.

 I felt a large arm come across my shoulders and give me a squeeze pulling me out of my depressing thoughts.

“So Ed, whatdya say? Want to put a little wager on the Egg Run?” Emmet asked, getting Edward’s attention to focus back in my direction, even if it wasn’t completely on me.

“You know that I will completely kick your ass. Again. Why bother running against me?”  He smirked at Emmett.

  _Wow, he really is cocky unless he’s joking._ I couldn’t tell. This was a confusing introduction.

“I have a feeling that _I’ll_ win this year,” Emmett said pointing with this thumb towards his chest.

 Edward shook his head at Emmett as if to say that it was even sad of him to try.

“So about that wager…,” Emmett began again.

“Emmett, Emmett, Emmett… I just don’t want to embarrass you again in front of everyone. Give it up. But if you really want to put some money on it, go ahead. I have no problem taking it from you,” Edward taunted.

 _Okay, so maybe he is joking_.

 Emmett gave a devilish smile and called Rosalie over to be the safe-keeper of the money for the bet. Edward looked a little confused. “Wait, isn’t Rose your partner?”

“Nope, I’ve got another member of ‘Team McCarty’ lined up for the race,” Emmett replied as he gave me another squeeze.

 Edward stopped smiling as he looked down at me with that look that said I was nothing of significance.

 “I see” was all he said, and then snapped his eyes back to Emmett, giving his own devious smile. “Good Luck Em, she looks absolutely frightened and may end up crushing the egg. Are you sure you want her as your team mate?”

“I have every faith in Bella.”

“Good, ‘cause you’re going to need it,” Edward said flatly, giving me one last disapproving look before walking away to go talk to join Lauren.

  _Okay, calm yourself. Don’t let him goad you into losing your temper. He’s not worth it. He’s just a typical stuck-up boy._

 So that answers that question. He may be beautiful on the outside, but the inner workings were not so nice. It looks like Alice got all the sweetness and Edward all the sourness of twindom.

 Alice and Jasper excused themselves to go talk to the same group, leaving Emmet, Rosalie, and I together.

“Don’t worry Bella, we’ll be great. You just need to hold onto the egg and I’ll do all the running.” Emmett turned to face me while giving me further instructions and a pep talk for the Egg Race that I was going to have to participate in now. Instead of feeling nervous about it, I felt a slight anger coursing through me.

 Emmett left shortly after to finish up his part of grilling duty.

 What did I do to Edward? Or even Lauren? I just met them. I couldn’t think of a reason that he would react that way to me. I know I was staring at him, but did I deserve such a response?  Unless that’s his idea of a joke; if so, it just wasn’t that funny. No one else said anything about it. Maybe I’m just blowing it out of proportion.

“Bella, are you Okay?” Rosalie asked me.

“What did I do wrong?” I asked worried.

“Don’t worry about Lauren. She sees you as competition and will probably try to make you feel like shit going forward. Personally, I think you handled yourself pretty well. You didn’t give her what she wants.”

“Which is?”

“A fight.”

“She wanted me to hit her?” I asked confused.

 Rosalie shook her head. “No, a fight of the verbal kind; she wanted you to show a weakness so she could use it against you, especially in front of Edward.”

“Are they mates?” I asked

“Lauren and Edward?” Rosalie gave a loud laugh, causing a few people in the area to look at them. “No, she wishes. They are actually first cousins so they probably won’t imprint.”

“I take it they’re both seventeen.”

“No, just Lauren is. Her birthday is in October; Edward turned eighteen this past June.”

“So Alice is eighteen as well. Is she mated to Jasper?” _I swear there are days that I am just that slow._

 Rosalie smiled amusedly and nodded an affirmation.

“I thought they were dating.”

 Rosalie laughed again. “Emmett’s right, you do say the funniest things.”

 -O-O-O-O-

  Alice had returned not that long after finishing my conversation with Rosalie. She introduced me to a few other classmates of ours from the group of people she went to speak with. I couldn’t remember some of their names, but I did recollect another girl, who was just as quiet as I was, named Angela.

 We spoke about what we were currently reading at the moment and where to shop for books. She would probably make another good friend at school. She also introduced me to her mate, Ben. They had been holding hands the entire time we were talking, even though his back was to us and heavily involved in his own conversation.

 I was a little disturbed by being confronted with yet another mating at such a young age. I knew that it wasn’t my place to say something against it either, so I tried to keep all those feelings on the back burner, no matter how much I wanted to squirm.

 Before I knew it, an announcement was made, signaling the beginning of the games.

 I heard Emmett before I saw him. “Bella!!!” he yelled for me.

 I excused myself from my conversation with Angela and walked towards him without dragging my feet. I had agreed to do this race, and it was too late to chicken out now. My knees, however, started to wobble a bit from my nerves.

 Images of every worst case scenario popped into my head in regards to me being teamed with Emmett. I knew he could run the race without a problem, but as for me holding the actual egg; I was sure that it was as good as scrambled.

 Emmett was holding Rosalie’s hand and reached for mine with his other as soon as we were in touching distance. He walked us over to where a starting line was set up. A few couples were lining up behind it. My eyes went directly to Edward and Alice who chose to stand in the middle. They were focused on each other, talking heatedly.

 As we reached our position next to them, they stopped. Edward looked over at Emmett and smirked.

“So, ready to lose again?” he asked, stretching his legs.

 Alice just turned and winked at me.

 Emmett’s face showed his determination to win and growled back at Edward, causing him to burst out laughing. It was a beautiful sound, even though I shouldn’t be thinking such things after his welcome reception.

 I turned my attention directly back to Emmett, trying to calm myself for the race and to stop myself from staring at Edward.

 Rosalie was talking softly to Emmett, kissing his knuckles. Her loving smile and affectionate gestures seemed to calm and exhilarate him at the same time. For a moment, I stood in awe of their behavior. They really did love each other. Maybe their age wasn’t such a factor after all; they truly supported and respected each other.

 A loud voice came from the sidelines, startling me. I turned my head to see a handsome blond man calling out the rules of the game. Alice leaned over and told me that was her dad, Carlisle. Looking back over, I gazed at him for signs of resemblance to his children. I could see both Alice and Edward in his features, but mostly Edward. They had the same strong facial structure and height.

 Coming from behind, to stand next to Carlisle, was a stunningly beautiful woman. I immediately knew who she was by her coloring: Edward’s mother. She had the same shade of dark bronze hair and bet that she would also have his green eyes. I was too far away from her to tell if they were the same color.

  _God, I am pathetic._

 Edward and Alice’s mother walked down the line giving out an egg to each team. There were four more pairs competing in the race, but as far as Emmett was concerned, it was just Edward’s team he was up against.

 When it came to our turn to receive an egg, Mrs. Cullen stopped and gave me a warm greeting. She was beautiful up close and could see that she did indeed share her coloring with her son, but her features belonged to Alice.

“Thank you Mrs. Cullen,” I said after being handed my egg.

She laughed softly. “Please call me Esme, my mother-in-law is Mrs. Cullen.”

I blushed. “Esme,” I repeated.

“I hope to see more of you soon, Bella. Please have Alice bring you over after school this week for dinner. I’ll call your parents to invite them as well.”

“I’d liked that. Thank you.” And I meant it. I had felt calm in her presence.

“Places everyone!!!” yelled another man, standing next to Carlisle.

 Emmett came to stand behind me, and then lifted me into his arms. I carefully held the egg cupped in my hands.

 I was facing Edward and Alice, who had assumed the same position as we did. Both had their eyes locked onto the other side of the field, talking softly to one another.

 I looked up at Emmett and he looked down at me, giving me a wink and a reassuring smile.

“The trick is to gently hold the egg and don’t tense up,” he whispered.

 I took a deep breath and concentrated on the egg. I told myself that I would keep my focus on it the entire time, and not look at anything else.

“On your marks!”

_Breath Bella, breathe. You can do this._

“Get set!”

_Earth, give us no interference and allow Emmett to run without tripping. Let his way be clear… and do not let me break the damn egg!!_

“GO!!!!!”

  Emmett took off with me in his arms, while I held the egg as tenderly as possible. I placed all of my energy into protecting that egg. I blocked out all the voices cheering and badgering the teams on the sidelines. I didn’t look up to see where the other pairs were. It was just me and that egg.

 When Emmett reached the other side, getting ready to turn, he spoke just loud enough for me to hear. “Half way mark! Edward’s in the lead!”

 Never taking my eyes off the egg I replied “Focus!”

 As we came closer to the finish line the voices became more frantic sounding, but I still wouldn’t raise my eyes.

“Hurry, baby, hurry!” Rosalie’s voice broke through all the other voices. Keeping my eyes on my charge, I hoped that Rosalie’s words would keep Emmett on track.

 The last few feet I heard Emmett’s breathing increase in verbal huffs and felt his strides below me lengthen. Then finally he was slowing down, but I still didn’t take my eyes off that egg.

 A few moments later, the man who had made the announcements, came over to us and asked to see the egg. I unfolded my cupped hands to reveal that it had made the journey. He took it from me and held it up in the air, shouting out “The winner!!!”

 Emmett dropped my legs and swung me around by my arms. I could see the look of complete happiness on his face, and felt myself laugh in response. For the first time in my life, I had actually won a sporting event. Well, technically, Emmett won the event, I just held the egg.

  _Okay, that sounded weird even to my own ears._

 He put me down after one more turn and held out his arms for Rosalie. Their reunion turned quite mushy within seconds, with an intense make-out session. I had to look away, only to find that Edward was gazing at me with inscrutable features.

 I felt myself blush, from the awkward situation and turned back to Emmett who was now shouting out that he was “King of the Egg Race”.  He reached over and pulled me to his other side for us to take a photo of the winning team.

 Jasper walked over with Alice under his arm afterwards and congratulated us.

“Thanks for the win, Em. I’m a hundred bucks richer!”

“You bet on me to win?” Emmett asked incredulous.

“Alice said I should,” Jasper replied.

_What?_

 I looked at Alice for an explanation for betting against her own team.

“I had a feeling that you two would win,” she said, taping her finger to her temple.

“Congratulations Emmett. It looks like you actually managed to beat me.” Edward walked over to us, but his eyes were only on my cousin as he spoke.

“I told you with Bella on my side that I would win,” Emmett boasted.

“Well, there is still the pie eating contest. Too bad that you won’t be able to use her for that one, she’s too small and would probably hinder your chances,” he replied with what sounded like a bit of a spike to his voice.

 This time I felt I knew for certain that he thought lowly of me, and had admitted it out loud with his last comment. My anger was rising; enough for me to lose my bashfulness around him and to open my mouth.

“Emmett, maybe you should take his advice on this one. With all his talk, I bet his mouth is big enough to devour a whole pie in one go. There’s no way you could beat that.”

 Everyone fell silent, as Edward finally looked at me, eyebrows knitted together and a small frown on his lips.

_Oh, crap._

 Rosalie’s laugh broke the tension. “Well Edward, looks like one less girl you need to worry about for your fan club.”

 Thankfully Aunt Maggie and my parents walked over to congratulate us at that moment so I didn’t see his reaction, but I couldn’t feel the victory that I did minutes ago. I felt awful for opening my mouth like I did, even though he started it. It was crass of me.

 I peeked over at Alice to see her reaction to my outburst to find that she was several feet away from us, talking to Edward; quite heatedly from the looks of their faces, with frantic hand movements.

 I turned back and saw that I wasn’t really needed in the conversation with my family and decided to walk away to let myself stew in my own stupidity.

 I didn’t really look where I was going, and somehow ended up near the edge of the woods. A group of kids was roasting marshmallows over a small fire about ten feet away. Turning around to look behind me, I found that I was away from the majority of the festivities.

 Satisfied that I would have time to myself without interruption, I swung back around, facing the direction of the woods. Wrapping my arms around my waist, I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. I was determined _not_ to cry.

_I’m such an idiot! I let a few comments from a good looking guy set me off and say something stupid so I could get back at him for basically ignoring me. I didn’t let Lauren get to me, who was much worse, but I let him get to me._

 I had finally taken some sort of interest in a boy and I act like a complete moron in front of him _and_ the people who were becoming my friends. I had always thought that the girls who were always throwing themselves at guys, in any form, to gain interest, were pathetic. In a roundabout way I had just did the same thing.

 On top of that, it led to a fight between Alice and Edward. Now Alice will probably want nothing to do with me.

 I had to go back and find her to apologize for losing my cool towards her brother. She didn’t deserve my attitude towards him.

 Closing my eyes and taking another deep breath, I turned back around in the direction that I came, only to have the shit scared out of me by finding Edward standing a few feet away, watching me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SMeyer, the rest comes from my crazy imagination.
> 
> Beta'd by Keepingupwiththekids

 “Shit!!” I yelled

 I jumped in fright from finding Edward standing only a few feet behind me. I put my hand over my frantic heart, hoping to calm its heavy beats and slow my breathing down to a normal level.

 His stoic look quickly changed to one of annoyance. He crossed his arms over his chest in what felt like a show of displeasure from my response to his sudden appearance.

 I was embarrassed by my outburst and felt dumb once again in front of him. My cheeks were aflame and had to look away from his gaze.

_Good going, now he thinks you’re stupid._

“Edward, please…,” I heard Alice say.

 I glanced back in Edward’s direction to find that Alice had come up from behind him to stand at his side. She placed her small hand on top of his folded arms and looked up at him with a beseeching smile. At first, he glared back at her, but under her strong gaze, he was no match to her determination. With a sigh, he unfolded his arms to let them hang by his sides; nodding his head in acquiescence, before he turned back to me.

“I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier,” he announced formally, bored look back in place on his handsome face.

 I wasn’t sure if he was completely sincere, but with Alice around, who I had made up my mind to find to give her an apology of my own, I decided to return the sentiment.

“I apologize for mine as well. I was out of line with my comment,” I replied, looking from Edward to Alice and back again. I hoped that she understood that I was including her in the apology.

She smiled and nodded her head at me.

Edward gave his own nod before he turned back around to walk away.

Alice gave an aggravated huff to his back but walked over to me instead of going after him.

“Alice, I do hope you know that I am really sorry for what I said,” I offered, trying to put as much of the emotion I was feeling behind it, to let her know that I was indeed earnest about my apology.

She laughed and then hugged me. “Bella, don’t be silly.”

 I was going to respond, but she stopped me.

“No, no. Edward was being an idiot,” she explained with a sigh.

“Alice, did you make him apologize to me?”

She lowered her eyes for a moment, playing with the hem of her dress, which gave me my answer.

“Then it wasn’t sincere, was it?” I asked quietly, feeling hurt.

Alice’s eyes flew back up to mine and placed a gentle hand on my arm.

“Bella, I know this is probably one of the lamest excuses on his behalf,” she started solemnly, “but he has a lot of pressure on him. He expects things to work a certain way and his behavior can seem a little harsh to those who don’t know him.”

“Meaning he expects the world to revolve around him?” I asked flatly.

Edward wanted things his way and apparently I didn’t do something according to his rules. Therefore, I was beneath him. It hurt to be dismissed by the beautiful man, but hopefully it would help me snap out of my fascination with him.

 She winced slightly. “That’s a bit severe, but like I said there is a lot expected of him. He takes most things way too seriously and can say things that may be taken the wrong way. He was joking around earlier.”

_...but at my expense._

“Is it because he is going to be the next leader of the Coven?”

“Yes, that has a lot to do with it. All eyes are on him and not just at school, I mean the Coven and those we work with, to protect this area, are very aware of his standing as our future leader.”

 I just nodded to show I understood even if I truly didn’t comprehend the details. Alice relaxed and a small smile crept back onto her face. She even bounced in place a few beats to show her relief.

“Thank you Bella. I just ask that you give him time to open up to you. He can be a good friend, once he knows you. I’m sure he’ll try to be on his best behavior.”

I smiled in return, grateful that Alice still thought of me as a possible friend. I liked her openness and happy disposition. As for Edward, I would have to wait and see how he acted towards me at school.

“Now let’s go watch Emmett win the pie eating contest!” Alice looped her arm through mine and led me back to the festivities.

 -O-O-O-O-

 The remainder of the day went smoothly with only a few mishaps.

 Emmett had won the pie eating contest, beating Edward by only one pie. With the amount of mess that was created, I was pretty sure that they were wearing more of the pie rather than having consumed it. I kept an eye on the two of them, rather than the other contestants during the contest, and tried to let go of my earlier anger towards Edward as suggested by Alice.

 When Emmett won, I could see that Edward was good natured about losing to my cousin, even shaking his hand to congratulate him.

 It still made me feel uneasy to look at Edward, knowing that I had somehow caused his stiff reaction to me. I hoped that it was because he didn’t know who I was and he was just shy with strangers.

 A few other games were played that were fun to watch as Emmett pit himself up against Edward with Jasper occasionally joining them. Emmett seemed to take these competitions seriously, while Edward tried to egg him on as much as possible to get him to screw up; making everything from chicken noises to all out ribbing him. It worked a few times and gave Edward the win. Emmett was just as gracious at losing, and in return gave as much praise to Edward for his achievement.

 I would try to see Edward in this light going forward: the friend that he was to Emmett and Jasper.

 As I predicted, I had a “Bella Swan Disaster Moment”. I had accidentally burnt my hand on a pair of tongs, which had been lying on the hot grill. It was nothing serious, but enough for me to go into the cabin to retrieve some burn cream and a bandage from the first aid kit for my hand. Of course, about ten people had to witness my “moment”, including Lauren. Who snickered at my injury.

 Mom came with me and fussed too much over my burn, but I let her. I could tell that she was as uncomfortable as I was with the amount of people at the party, but I knew it was for a different reason than mine. She was never afraid of social occasions like I was. This was something more and she pretended that nothing was amiss in front of me.

 She and dad had spent most of their time with my aunt and uncle. I noticed when I spotted them during intervals of the games that some people stayed away from them. A few were blatantly ignoring their presence and others gave polite nods before moving away. The most interesting exchange came when I saw them talking to the Cullens.

 Mom and dad were faced away from me, so I could see that she was clutching his hand tightly at his waist, behind his back, like he was her life preserver. Dad, in an act of pure protectiveness, held her close to him with his free arm.

 The Cullens showed politeness. It was not overly familiar; they didn’t shake hands, but seemed friendly when speaking with my parents. I felt what I was seeing was Carlisle Cullen acting as the leader of the Coven giving an official greeting.

The barbeque started to wind down around four in the afternoon. My parents, mainly mom not feeling completely at ease, decided to be one of the first to leave.

 Emmett and Rose came to see us off with a promise come over for breakfast and then head for Port Angeles for a few hours to shop for school, then a lesson in the greenhouse before dinner.

 Alice and Jasper also came to say goodbye, with the assurance that they would drive me to school on Monday.  Alice would be joining Rose and me on the shopping trip, so I would see her before then. Behind them, I had spotted Angela and waved to her.

 Overall, I felt that I had actually made more progress with people than set-backs during the party. My cousin and his wife, Alice, Jasper, and Angela seemed to be interested in having me as a friend. I know that we were grouped together due to an extraordinary situation, but they made me feel welcomed, regardless of it and the short amount of time we’ve known each other.

 I went to bed more relaxed that night after having faced what I considered one of my least favorite things to do and basically make it out almost unscathed.

***

 “No!!” I sat up screaming in terror, panting like mad, trying to calm myself from the disturbing dream that woke me. I looked down and saw that my knuckles were white from clutching the lilac sheets to my chest, and released the material pushing it towards to my waist to let the air cool my heated body that was still trembling.

 Running a hand through my sweaty curls to move it from my face, I turned to look at the clock.

 _One in the morning_. _Damn._

 The details were fading, but what I remembered of it was that Alice and Jasper were with me. We were being hunted by something unknown and were extremely scared of it. The part that stood out the most, that really unnerved me, was seeing Edward standing nearby, reaching for me. In the dream I was just as scared of him as I was of this monster hunting us. His face was the same stone mask of indifference as what he had presented to me earlier that day.

 I turned on the light next to my bed and picked up my book. I never could sleep well after a bad dream. Hopefully a few chapters would knock me out and allow me to sink into a dreamless sleep.

 -O-O-O-O-

 

 Unfortunately, I didn’t get my wish. I eventually fell back to sleep, but it was an uneasy one. Flashes of the dream came back to me which left me restless, and tangled up in my sheets.

 When my clock read six-thirty, I decided to get out of bed to take a shower to wash off the sweat from my body. I made my way downstairs afterwards, trying to keep as silent as possible, as mom and dad were most likely still asleep. I was not up to having company at the moment.

 Before I turned to go into the kitchen, to grab a glass of juice, I glanced at the doors to the greenhouse. Through that glass I could see patterns in brilliant green. A distinction in view to what I saw a few days ago. I realized that I hadn’t been back in this room since the day we arrived.

 Remembering Emmett saying something about how much had changed in the room and the expression on his face; I made my way over to the door and nervously opened it.

The greenhouse was now filled with life.

 Wonderful, growing life.

 Trees and plants which were once sleeping were alive with healthy leaves, flowers, and fruits. 

 I walked to the center of the room, to the middle of the circle, and just took in everything. What was once chaos was now order.

 Taking a deep breath, I inhaled the scents around me. I could recognize jasmine, roses, citrus, honeysuckle, with rosemary and basil.

_I did this._

 I felt a little pride but was mostly in awe of my surroundings, this Eden that I helped restore to life. This to me was pure magic; this vibrant life now flourishing around me.

“Thank you,” I whispered aloud to whatever force or power that had done this work. “Thank you, for this gift.” I said, placing my hands on my cheeks, feeling the tears of my gratitude roll down my face as I turned in a circle, taking in all the changes.

 I could feel an answering loving hum, as if it had heard my expression of appreciation and wanted to acknowledge it. My face broke out into a genuine smile.

 With that, I left to go make breakfast.

 -O-O-O-O-

  It was another hour before mom and dad joined me in the kitchen. I reminded them that Emmett and Rosalie were due for breakfast in a few minutes. Fortunately, I had the majority of the meal ready for our company.

Breakfast was filled with Emmett’s boasting of all his wins in yesterday’s competitions. He was most proud of his victory in the Egg Race. He had wanted to beat Edward for years and thanked me again for being his partner.

 Shortly after our meal, Emmett, Rosalie, and I walked into the greenhouse. Both of them stopped in the center, like I had earlier, to look around at all the changes. Emmett had seen it before, but was no less impressed by the view.

“This is amazing, Bella,” Rosalie gasped, wide eye at the scene before her.

“Truly beautiful,” Emmett added, with a proud smile.

 I stood there waiting, not sure how I should respond to their words. I didn’t feel that I should receive all this credit. The more that I thought about what created this garden, the more that I felt it was something greater than myself and I was simply a conduit for its work.

 “We need to get moving if we plan to be back by dinner, “ Rose said quietly, coming out of her shock.

 I just nodded. I was _so_ not looking forward to this shopping trip. Alice and Rose’s conversation in the diner earlier had me worried that I was going to be dragged from one clothing store to another until they had thoroughly pillaged a good amount of clothing from each place.

 We walked back into the kitchen to grab our jackets and purses. It may have been summer, but this area of the country was notorious for turning cold or a freak rain storm without notice. Dad handed me a credit card to use for shopping. Mom asked me to buy at least a few nice items of clothing instead of just books. Rose assured her that she would help me pick out the right items.

“When are you expected to be back home?” Dad asked, standing by the kitchen counter, pouring another cup of coffee.

“We should return by four or five,” Rose replied, walking over to give Emmett a kiss goodbye.

 We left Emmett with my parents to help move some of the big boxes that arrived on Friday. In the evening we would get in a lesson before dinner. I wasn’t sure how I feeling about my training. It sounded as if there was a lot expected of me to learn in a short amount of time. Emmett was patient with me the other day with the basil plants, so I just needed to remain calm and open to his teaching.

 As we walked outside, a yellow Porsche pulled up in the driveway. Alice waved to us from the passenger seat before she leaned over and gave Jasper a kiss. She got out, all smiles with an extra twinkle in her eye. Jasper pulled away with a quick wave in greeting and farewell as soon as Alice closed the passenger door.

 “Morning, ladies!” She greeted us brightly. “Are we ready to do some damage…so we can look fabulous?”

“Of course,” Rose answered, with more excitement in her voice.

 “Sure…” I replied, getting nervous that I was stuck with two shopaholics, with no way to escape if things got out of hand.

  The drive to Port Angeles was filled with music and conversation, led by Alice. I mostly listened to the two of them talk about various subjects, that all circled back to clothing or shoes in some form. I tried to show interest, but with all the fashion terminology they threw at me, I was completely lost. Just as long as I got to the book store for at least fifteen minutes, I could deal with this madness called clothes shopping.

 As I feared, when we arrived Alice and Rose’s excitement kicked into high gear. I felt like I barely had time to get out of the car before I was being dragged into the first shop.

“Renee said that Bella needs a few nice outfits,” Rose announced as she made her way over to a rack of jeweled toned silk blouses. Alice followed, but walked over to the table of dark jeans. A saleslady walked over and addressed Alice like an old friend, before she started to help Alice look for sizes.

 I just stood there, not sure of what I was supposed to be looking for, especially in this shop. The clothes looked really expensive. I doubt that I could afford anything in here; dad didn’t make _that_ much money.

 Alice and Rose gave the saleslady a few items to put into a dressing room. Alice turned to me with a sly smile and crooked her finger, telling me to follow her into the room. I spent the next twenty minutes trying on tight jeans and different tops, then modeling them for Alice and Rose. When I had three pairs of jeans and a few tops that they were satisfied with, they let me change back into my clothes.

 I came out of the dressing room to find them at the front counter, paying for the items. Horrified, I rushed over to them.

“Alice? What are you doing? I can’t let you buy these clothes for me,” I exclaimed, reaching into my purse for the charge card.

 She waved me away. “No, Bella. Let this be a welcoming gift.”

 “Just let Alice pay for the clothes, Bella,” Rose said.

 “Just this once, okay?” I asked.

 “I can’t promise that, Bella,” Alice replied with a devious smile, as she signed the credit card receipt.

 The next few hours were spent in the same manner. Rose and Alice walking into a store, grabbing clothes from the racks, pushing me into a dressing room, trying on clothes and walking out to find them at the cash register, paying for my items. They bought some things for themselves, but the majority of the time was spent on me. I managed to buy a few of my clothes, but Rose and Alice were one step ahead of me and paid for a good amount before I could stop them.

 My only moment of bliss during the trip was my half hour in the bookstore and our lunch break. I was lucky that Rose needed to pick up some cookbooks and Alice was looking for some funky design notebook that she used for school. She claimed that they were her good luck charm for passing classes.

 We left at three and arrived back home just after four. Alice called Jasper to have him pick her up in a half-hour. She promised to help me with the bags, but I think she was using it as an excuse to see my room.

 Dad greeted us at the door, all sweaty from getting our house in order. I started to feel bad for leaving him to go shopping. Before I could apologize, he stopped me.

“No, honey, you needed things for school,” he said shaking his head slightly, giving me a small smile.

 I introduced Alice to my dad and he seemed smitten. Then again, who could resist Alice when she released her mega-watt smile and charm on you? He ushered us into the cool house and closed the door.

“Dad, I’m going to take Alice upstairs to show her my room and put away my purchases,” I told him as we started to climb the stairs. Rose left us to search for Emmett.

 Alice bounced into my bedroom, laid her load onto my bed, and twirled in a circle, to get a quick look at everything. “This is pretty!”

 She gave herself a few minutes to nose around; to look at the furniture, the view out the window, my curtains, the bookshelves, the bathroom and my closet. While in the closet, I heard her muffled voice say something that sounded like disgust.

“What? Alice I can’t hear you,” I said walking over to the opened closet door.

 Alice popped her head out. “I said it’s a good thing we went shopping. Your closet is seriously lacking anything trendy,” she said shaking her head sadly. Then her face lit up with her Alice-smile. ”Well, it’s a good thing that I’m here to guide you. You can’t show up at school looking dowdy. You’re a Swan!”

 We put away my new clothes and separated the items that need to be washed before wearing. Alice spent the rest of her time, before Jasper came, organizing my closet and explaining the system she implemented to me.

 “…and this,” she said, pulling out a pair of the dark washed skinny jeans and a tailored silk blouse, “is what you should wear tomorrow with your new velvet jacket and black ankle boots,” laying them out on my bed.

 “Thanks, Alice.” I was grateful to her for helping me to put my best foot forward tomorrow in school. If I had to do this myself, I most likely would have shown up looking like a bum in my favorite jeans, t-shirt, and a hoodie.

 Her phone beeped, signaling that she had a text. She flipped open the phone cover and grinned. It was the smile reserved only for Jasper. “He’s on his way,” she said, as we both silently turned towards my bedroom door to go back downstairs.

 We didn’t have to wait long before Jasper pulled up onto the circular driveway. Alice hugged me goodbye as I opened the front door for her.

“We’ll pick you up tomorrow at eight,” she said in parting before getting into the yellow Porsche with Jasper. I watched them pull away and headed back in the direction of the Cullen House.

 I closed the front door and walked back to the kitchen where I heard voices in conversation, to find dad, mom, Emmett, and Rose all sitting around the small kitchen table drinking ice tea. I sat down and let them continue their discussion without giving much thought to the topic. I was tired from the shopping trip and let myself slip a little in my chair, slouching, resting my clasped hands over my stomach.

 Emmett nudged my shoulder, playfully. “So, ready for a lesson?”

 “Sure.” We got up from the table and made our way to the greenhouse. Rose followed us.

 As we reached the middle of the room, near the circle, Emmett stopped, and turned to face me.

 “Bella, what you are going to learn today are a few of the basic rules of starting a ritual.”

 He had my complete attention now, my fatigue forgotten. I wanted to know more about what it is that I am doing when I had helped the plants in this room and in his mother’s greenhouse. Everything was instinctual before, but to know the details of it might make more familiar.

 “When you were working on the basil plants, you were mostly silent. There is nothing wrong with that except it’s something that only a more mature Witch is able to do. It is encouraged for younger Witches to talk aloud about what they are doing during the ritual or spell.”

I nodded my head to ask him to continue.

“There are a few steps that need to be taken to insure that the power we are calling goes to the right place and does the work we ask of it. First step is to purify the self.”

I looked at him questioningly.”How?”

“What I mean is that you need to banish all negative thoughts from your head and asked to be cleansed.”

“Before I started channeling the power through me, I tend to calm myself, clear my head of everything else,” I responded.

“That’s what I thought. It took you a minute before anything happened with the basil,” Emmett said thoughtfully. “Today, I would like for you to try saying it out loud.”

“Okay.”

“Next is purification of space and creating sacred space,” Emmett continued. “First you need to ask for the area around you to be cleansed as well as yourself. We sometimes will use a broom to sweep the area we plan to work in, but since we are Earth and are mostly dealing with the outdoors, we really don’t need to.”

“I tend to move to the next step which is to create the space I plan to work on. We usually make a circle.”

I looked down at my feet to the see that I was standing directly in the center of the circle.

“Yes, this circle is the heart of this house. It has been used many times for work done on Swan property.”

“But, I never made a circle. I just placed my hand down on the dirt,” I told him apprehensively.

“That can work, but you need to learn how to perform in a circle. It is also used for bigger ceremonies or larger jobs when you work with other Witches,” Emmett explained patiently.

 Time seemed to fly as Emmett and Rosalie worked with me on how to create a circle, using the one in the greenhouse. They explained how I had to address the elements of each node, starting with the East/Air and walking clockwise until I finished with North/Earth. They had me create the circle and walked to the center to begin my invocation of my Earth Element. After I called it, I thanked it for coming and released it, then close the circle.

 Emmett had me create several circles by myself and with him and Rosalie involved. By the time the sun was setting, I had learned a few different methods. He had promised to bring Alice and Jasper during the week so that I would be able to experience a circle cast with a representative of each Element.

“You did well, Bella.” Emmett placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “This is something that is taught to us over a period of time, but since you are close to being eighteen, we need to try and push as many lessons together as possible.”

 I was feeling completely exhausted and yawned loudly unable to stop myself

“Sorry.” I yawned again, covering my mouth.

Rosalie gave me a smile. “I’m surprised that you are able to still stand up. That was a lot for one day.”

“You have school tomorrow. My advice is to go to bed, and we’ll continue on Tuesday with casting another circle,” Emmett said giving me a small hug.

“Thanks,” I smiled sleepily.

 We walked out of the greenhouse towards the kitchen where mom and dad were sitting at the small table eating. Both stopped when we entered.

 I was so tired that I had no idea what Emmett and Rosalie were talking about with my parents. I could tell by dad’s hand gesture to the table that he had asked them to stay for dinner, but Rosalie shook her head no politely.

 I could tell they were talking a bit about what had transpired in the greenhouse that afternoon. I heard words like “circle” and “power” a few times.

Mom’s face was a little strained, but she was trying to keep herself from making any sort of comment, while dad’s face was one of intent upon Emmett’s words.

 I was just way too weary to truly care about what they were saying.

“Um, I think I need to go to bed,” I mumbled and turned to the stairs to go to my room, not waiting for a reply.

 I fell into bed without washing my face or changing my clothes. It was just too much effort. I barely managed to set my alarm for seven before my eyes closed.

 Thankfully I slept so soundly that the dream did not return from the previous night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SMeyer
> 
> Beta'd by Keepingupwiththekids

 As promised, Alice and Jasper picked me up for our first day of school. Both were looking forward to finally being seniors. Alice was excited because she had more art classes and Jasper, because he was going to be senior editor of the school newspaper.

 “ _Really_?” I knew he was on the newspaper staff, but was impressed that he had earned such a prestigious position.

 Alice beamed at Jasper with pride.

“Do you like to write?” He asked me.

“Yes, very much so, I’m planning on majoring in journalism or anything to do with writing and literature,” I enthused.

 “I can get you a position as one of the writers for the newspaper staff,” he mentioned.

 “Isn’t the staff usually picked the year before?”

 Jasper just smirked. “Don’t worry… I have an ‘in’. When we get your schedule, we’ll find a time to talk with the teacher.”

“Jasper, you don’t have to go out of your way…“

 “Like I said, don’t worry. Let me handle the details,” he politely cut me off, turning into the school entrance.

 The parking lot was filling up with returning students. Already I saw that Forks was not that different from Phoenix. They had their own cliques. Small gatherings of students either standing on the sidewalk or leaning against their cars in groups. There were the jocks, the cheerleaders, the smokers, the geeks, etc, etc… yup, it’s true; things are the same no matter where you live.

 A few heads turned in our direction, as soon as the Porsche made its way down the row of parking spaces. The cars seemed to get fancier the further along we drove. Jasper pulled into a spot next to a black Mercedes and a silver Volvo.

 Up on the sidewalk in front of the Mercedes, Angela and Ben stood talking with a blond boy, seemingly waiting for our arrival. All three of them were well dressed without being overly flashy. No regular jeans and t-shirts for them, even from here I could tell they were wearing designer clothing. I was actually starting to feel glad that Alice and Rose took me shopping yesterday or else I would have looked like a charity case standing next to all of them.

 Angela gave us a warm smile and wished us good morning. The blond boy standing next to Ben looked familiar. Before Angela or Ben could introduce him, he stepped forward like an eager puppy wanting to jump on you and lick your face. He took my free hand between his two large clammy palms and gave me a firm shake.

“Hi! I’m Mike Newton. We were never officially introduced at the picnic on Saturday,” he said, blue eyes twinkling, as he continued to squeeze my hand.

“Hi Mike, I’m Bella Swan,” I replied politely, trying to be subtle about taking my hand back from his grip.

“Oh, _I know_ …”

 He leaned into me, not letting me have my hand back. I stood there for a few moments with Mike still staring at me; I felt a blush spread through my cheeks from the awkwardness and the embarrassment of the situation. A giggle to my left seemed to break Mike’s staring contest with my forehead and he quickly moved away, dropping my hand.

“I need to get Bella to the office to get her schedule,” Alice said with a giggle. She was looking at Mike with a smirk on her face. I glanced around to the others to see them all with the same expression while watching Mike, they were trying not to laugh at his behavior.

 I politely excused myself from Angela, Ben, and Mike, who had a lopsided grin on his face.

“See ya around Bella!” Mike called as I started to walk with Alice and Jasper into the school.

 When we were out of hearing distance, Alice turned to me and teased. “Looks like you have a fan, Bella.” Jasper just smirked.

“Ha, ha, very funny. I thought he was going to lick my face in excitement,” I replied sarcastically, trying to hold back a shudder.

 Alice and Jasper burst out laughing.

“Even though Mike is one of us, he’s still a bit of a goof. Be careful, he’ll be all over you if you let him,” Alice replied, trying to stifle her giggles.

 The school’s campus was relatively small compared to my high school back in Phoenix. We had arrived at the office in what were probably twenty steps from the front door. Jasper held open the door for Alice and me to precede him into the faux, wood panel-lined room, with boring grey short-haired carpet on the floor. It had only one window, overlooking the basketball court, with rows of fluorescent lights on the ceiling giving off an unnatural brightness, brighter than what was found outside. Overall, it was a depressing room.

 Alice walked up to the front desk, where an older, bottled-dyed, redheaded, woman sat flipping through a pile of papers, looking extremely harassed.

 “Ms. Cope?” Alice questioned.

 Without looking up, Ms. Cope snapped a reply. “Can’t you see I’m busy?!”

 Alice didn’t let Ms. Cope’s attitude get to her, but tried again, retaining her poise. “Ms. Cope, we’re here to pick up Bella Swan’s schedule. She’s new.”

 Ms. Cope froze in her sorting, and nervously looked up at Alice. “Miss Cullen, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”

 Ms. Cope looked over in my direction, and gave me a big fake smile, which I’m sure, was suppose to make me feel welcomed.

“Isabella Swan, welcome to Forks High School,” she continued the phony act. “If you step right over here, I can go over your classes and help you fill in your free periods with whatever optional classes you are interested in taking.”

 During her speech, I walked over to the desk, to stand next to Alice. I was feeling a little uncertain by this obvious ‘act’ by Ms. Cope. It was the second time that I had experienced this reaction from one of the townsfolk. The first time in the diner, the hostess was clearly nervous, borderline scared, when she addressed Emmett. Now to have it happen to me, I felt like I had to keep as calm as possible to hopefully calm Ms. Cope in return.

 Jasper came up on the other side of me, to take a look at my schedule as well.

“We’ll have Math together, and I see you have a free period right before lunch. That’s when I have Journalism and work on the newspaper. Come by room 212 after forth period and I will introduce you to Mrs. Weber,” Jasper explained.

Alice piped in on my left. “We have English and History together, and you have one more free period in the afternoon. Maybe you should take an art class!”

“Uh, I’m not very artistic. Maybe I should use it for a study period.”

“You don’t have to decide today. I’ll give you a list of the classes available for seventh period. I’ll just fill in Journalism for fifth,” Ms. Cope offered readily.

 “Yes, that will be fine,” I replied, still a little unnerved from her over-eager attitude to us.

 “Now, just let me know if you need anything else. Here is your map of the school and your locker number. Have a pleasant day!” Her voice went up another octave on the last word.

 We left the office and I took another look at my schedule, but glancing up at Alice and Jasper, I found them hugging.

“Have a good morning, my sweet. I’ll see you after first period,” Jasper murmured against Alice’s upturned lips.

 “Love you too,” she responding quietly, with a smile across her lips.

 I felt like I shouldn’t be watching them, but they acted like they were separating for weeks rather than hours, with the grip they had on each other’s waists. I knew that they cared deeply for each other, they were mated, but the physicality of their relationship was more that I had ever seen in a couple. It was like looking at two halves of a whole about to separate and it was painful to see it happen. Was this what was waiting for me if I imprinted? I still don’t think it will happen for me. I was the outsider in this group of people, Witches, whatever…

“Bella, let’s go solve some equations,” Jasper said, bringing me out of my thoughts, letting go of Alice’s hand.

 Jasper led me down another hallway.

“Jasper?” I queried.

“Yes?”

“Why did Ms. Cope act overly friendly to us? The same thing happened to Emmett and me at the diner.”

 He frowned for a moment, looked around us to see if anyone was listening. “Bella, we are not exactly normal people. Our families built Forks, essentially run the town, and have abilities that most people do not.”

“Yes, I understand that, but why the fear or ass kissing?”

“When someone doesn’t understand something, a typical reaction is to be scared of it,” he responded calmly.

“Then why do they stay in Forks?”

“I suppose it could be that the majority of them grew up here, the same with their families…listen, don’t let their reactions get to you. What’s important to keep in mind is that our main job is to protect and nurture this area. That includes all life in it. The crime rate is almost non-existent, making it a desirable place to raise a family.”

 It made sense. So far, I had not come across one of “us” as being inherently bad. If I were to raise a family, wouldn’t I pick a place that would work to protect them?

 We arrived at first period, Jasper allowed me to walk in before him to find that the classroom was only half-full. A few of the students stopped talking and looked away from us, but once he maneuvered me to a desk  in the back, the whispering started again.

 I sat in a seat to the left of Jasper, and noticed that he placed his books on the desk to the right of him. I turned to look at the rest of the students and saw that a few of them were blatantly starting at me. One group of girls didn’t hide that they were staring _and_ whispering about me. My palms started sweating a little and I rubbed them on my jeans looking down at my bag on the floor. I decided to make myself busy by taking out my notebook and pen to try to ignore them.

 Jasper must have sensed the reason for my uneasiness, and leaned over to whisper to me. “Don’t pay them any mind. You’re just new blood and this is a small school.”

 I nodded in return, giving him a weak but grateful smile.

 The teacher and a few more students walked in, the majority steering clear of the desks near me and Jasper. The teacher however, gave Jasper a pleasant smile and turned it slightly to me, as a welcoming. Hopefully that meant there would be no ass-kissing in this class and we would be treated like we were normal.

  _Deep breath, Bella. We can survive this last year of school. So what if you’re a Witch…and being treated like some sort of town pariah._

 Just as the bell rang, Edward Cullen walked into the room.

 My breath stopped for a moment, stunned by his looks and his presence. He just filled the room with his magnificence. His bronze hair was disarray, but his clothes were put together, probably by Alice. Double-layer, long sleeve fitted t-shirts over dark jeans.

 I quickly pulled myself together, remembering the last time I got caught staring at him. He had walked straight over to the teacher as soon as he entered the room, handing her a slip of paper. She quickly read and signed the paper, handing it back to Edward.

 It was only then that he turned to face the room. I could tell when he spotted Jasper, by the crooked grin he on his face. His gaze slid over at me for a moment, and the smile slipped from his expression. He was back to being the emotionless wonder and making me feel like pond scum.

 I kept my face as serene as possible, considering that what I really wanted to do was something rash towards him and stick out my tongue or yell at him to stop looking at me that way. Of course I didn’t do either of those things because it wasn’t polite and I promised Alice to get to know him.

 As Edward walked back to take the seat next to Jasper, I noticed that some of the girls followed his progress with their lovesick eyes.

_Yes girls. Take a look, but try not to let him see it! Edward Cullen needs none of your adoration._

 I turned my eyes back to the front as Jasper and Edward talked softly between themselves. If he was going to keep up this act, then I could try to distance myself, and remain as civil as possible. I had never been part of the mass of girls to giggle over a guy, no matter how much I wanted to at this very moment. Future schooling was my true aspiration, and I needed to get back on track.

 The teacher spoke then, quieting the class instantly. Ms. Miller was most likely in her early thirties, but she knew her stuff. Instead of being lenient because it was the first day of school, she dove right into our first assignment after she handed us our textbooks.

 Math wasn’t my strong suit, so I made sure to pay attention in class and refrained from looking over at Edward.

 When the bell rang, the talking commenced, with more giggling from the girls.

“Bella, I’ll take you to your second class,” Jasper said as he rose from his desk, waiting for me.

 I grabbed my bag, still not looking at Edward. I knew that I would end up like one of those girls and giggle at him if I did take a peek. However, he was in my direct line of sight when I glanced up, so it was hard to turn away without it seeming rude.

 He was talking to Jasper about some dinner later this week, but his eyes were on me and his mouth was in a scowl.

_Oh come on… what did I do to this guy?_

Instead of looking away, my anger decided to make an appearance, allowing me to look him straight in the eyes. His eyes widen slightly at my expression. I seriously doubt that anyone had called him on his attitude, but he seriously needed a reality check. Whatever sort of crush I was feeling for him, was quickly disappearing. I did not need to be treated with such lack of respect.

“Bella? We need to go,” I looked over at Jasper, who was watching mine and Edward’s exchange.

 “Sure,” I moved towards the door, not even bothering to say goodbye to Edward.

 Thankfully Jasper and I walked in silence to the next class, where he dropped me off, and said a quick hello to Alice, who was in the class with me. Again, we were seated in the back of the room, with a few empty desks surrounding us.

 I was excited by this class; it was English, my favorite. The teacher was already up at the front, ready with a pile of syllabuses and a box of our first books for reading. As I was leaning forward, trying to get a better look at the book, the bell rang, and in walked Lauren cozying up to Edward.

_Double crap._

 I leaned back in my chair, grateful that at least I wasn’t going to have to sit next to one of them. Ben was in the seat next to me, and Alice directly in front of me.

 Lauren noticed me right away, and gave me a nasty smirk, almost wrapping herself around Edward, like a snake.

  _Okay, that’s a bit gross. They’re cousins._

 Alice smiled up at her brother as he took the seat next to her and Lauren next to Ben. Edward didn’t acknowledge me, which was fine with me.

 The teacher handed out the papers and the books. I had read Frankenstein before, but didn’t mind another reading. Looking at the list, I noticed that I had read every single book either last year or the year before, in my AP English classes. Forks didn’t have an advanced English class, this made me discouraged. If I were in Phoenix, I would most likely be reading more works that were not as widely taught until college. No Elizabeth Gaskell for me this year.

 A sigh escaped me.

“Miss Swan is it?” The teacher’s voice asked with a snip.

 My head jerked up, confused. Was I too loud?

“Um, yes sir?” I asked nervously.

“Is the reading list not to your liking?” He asked crossing his arms over his chest looking at me smugly.

 Lauren snickered.

“Um, no sir, it’s just that I’ve read all these books before,” I replied trying to be polite.

 His smug looked died and turned to a quiet anger. “Well, Miss Swan, I expect you to lead most of us during discussion time over the school year, since this is far beneath you.”

 Lauren flat out laughed.

His head turned towards her. “Miss Mallory, is there a problem?”

“No sir,” she said with another smirk in my direction.

 Edward was facing front, so I couldn’t see his expression, but had a feeling that he was enjoying the spotlight being on me in such a negative way.

 I was mortified.

 “Now, class, let us look over our syllabus for the year…”

 I zoned out for the rest of his speech. There wasn’t anything I needed to worry about learning from him, since it was all rehashed information for me. I was a little sad that the class I looked forward to the most was turning into a torture session.

 I felt a nudge at my knee closest to the wall. I peeked down to see that Alice was holding a folded note in her hand. I leaned forward and grabbed it. When the teacher’s back was turned, I opened it and hid it under my notepad, and started to surreptitiously read it.

_“Don’t worry, he hates us all. **Especially** the families. Any chance that I can get you to tutor me for this class? He’s a dictator!”_

 With a few simple words, Alice made everything alright again. I reached forward and gently scratched her back to let her know that I was thankful for her note. She turned her head slightly, so that I could see her smile. I noticed Edward looking over at Alice to see who her smile was for, him or someone else. She gave him a quick nod in my direction. He quickly looked at me, under his lashes, and gave a small frown.

 I was going to have to ask Alice for a little more information about her brother, to see if I could get him to stop with the scowls that were being aimed at me.

 The bell rang ending second period.

 Alice stood up and turned towards me with her bright smile. “Ready for History?”

“Does it get any better?” I asked looking over at the teacher.

 I saw that Edward was listening to us. I glanced over at him to find his attention was now focused on me. His face gave away nothing as to what he was thinking. I could guess something unpleasant, since the majority of the time he looked at me like I smelled, but I just raised an eyebrow at him, asking him what he wanted. He just turned to Alice and told her that he would see her at lunch.

 Alice’s looked at me curiously, and I remembered my promise to try and befriend Edward, but if he wasn’t going to be polite, then there was not much I could do about building a friendship.

“I’m sorry Alice, I don’t think he wants to be friends,” I told her.

“I’m sorry too, I don’t completely understand why he is acting this way,” she said soberly.

 We started walking to History class, and decided to just bite the bullet and ask her a few questions.

“Is there anything you can tell me about why he may hate me?”

 Alice’s head turned swiftly in my direction, her face stunned. “Why do you think he hates you?”

“He’s always frowning or looking at me like a smell,” I told her, hugging my bag closer to my chest.

 “Ha!” Letting out a quick bark of laughter, and shook her head smiling.

“What’s so funny?” I asked defensively. Maybe she didn’t believe me. After all he was her brother.

 She reached over and placed a hand on my upper arm, stopping me in the hallway for a moment.

“Bella, I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you, just the situation. Truthfully, I’ve haven’t quite seen him act this way with anyone. I wish I could tell you otherwise,” she narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment.”Unless it’s because…”

“Because…” I tried to get her to finish that statement.

 She gave a small shake of her head to clear it, and grinned. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“So, would you be offended if I somewhat ignore him? I’d rather not have to deal with his behavior problem,” I asked, trying to be diplomatic, but at the same time, I wanted to be honest with her.

Alice let out a bigger laugh this time, causing a few pairs of eyes to turn and watch us.

“Oh Bella, you have no idea how good this will be for him. The amount of fawning he gets from the girls!” she said excitedly, pulling me along the hallway to our class.

 Jasper was standing outside the doorway, waiting for us. Alice skipped from my side to join him. He took her hand in his and gave her an affectionate smile before leaning down and to kiss her on the mouth. From the intensity of the exchange, they acted like they had been apart for longer than an hour.

 They broke apart as soon as I reached the door. Jasper looked over Alice’s head to give me a smile. Like earlier he let Alice and I walk in before him, and made our way to the back seats to find a pretty brunette girl sitting in the area that seemed to be reserved just for us. I did a double take and realized she was the girl that had been at the picnic standing with Lauren, talking, when I first arrived. She was looking straight at me, with an expression of displeasure, but not an all-out sneer like from Lauren.

 “Jessica Stanley, this is Bella Swan,” Alice announced happily.

 “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” I told Jessica politely with a smile.

“Um, hi,” was the extent of her reply before looking out the window, dismissing me.

 Alice’s face fell slightly at Jessica’s reaction and nervously looked back at me to see if I was upset with the snub. I just shrugged my shoulders in return. It wasn’t Alice’s fault for Jessica’s attitude.

 We took our seats just as the bell rang. History was uneventful, except for the teacher being slightly nervous of the four of us.

 Spanish was similar, except that I had Ben, Angela, and Mike in the class with me. Mike sat next to me, and leaned over into my personal space one too many times, enough for the teacher to ask him if there was a problem. I tried to be nice to him, but really, I was just getting irritated.

 Angela had found out from Jasper that I was going to take Journalism with them next period. She was one of the writers on the staff and Ben was the photographer. I corrected her and said that I had not spoken to the teacher yet to see if it was okay to be in the class.

 “Bella, my mother teaches the class, and I’ve already left her a text telling her that you were interested. She’s expecting you. Besides she would want to see a sample of your writing before placing you in a position,” she explained.

 I was a little shocked by how giving and thoughtful Angela was. No one outside of my family had done something like this for me, same with Jasper and Alice. I wasn’t use to this level of kindness.

 Angela and Ben walked me to the Journalism room after Spanish. Mrs. Weber, who looked alike an older version of her daughter, was all smiles when she greeted me.

“I’m sorry that we weren’t introduced during the barbeque, but Angela has been talking about you non-stop.”

 Angela blushed a little over being caught speaking about me behind my back, but it wasn’t as if it was done with malicious intent.

 Mrs. Weber was pleasant without being overly demonstrative. She explained a little about how they had started last week with the first issue for the school year to drop on the following Monday. She led me through the spacious room that looked like it was a combination of two classrooms joined together. All the equipment looked like it was updated with the latest versions of both computers and programs. It felt like a real working newspaper office, including a miniature printing press.

 “Bella, even though you are being recommended by both Angela and Jasper, I still need to test your writing abilities if that is where your interests are, and you would be expected to learn how to work other positions in this classroom. Our paper is read by the whole town, and we are expected to deliver a work of quality every two weeks.”

 I smiled, barely able to contain my excitement at this opportunity. “Where do you need me to start?”

Mrs. Weber’s smile increased. “Let’s start with a writing test. Angela needs to write an article about the new dessert chef and menu that is about to be introduced at Rain Café next week. I want you to go with her and write your own article as if it was your personal assignment. Until then, during classroom hours, I am going to have you shadow a few people in each department so you can get a feel of how this place functions.”

“Thank you, I’ll do my best,” I told her, pretty sure that my smile was splitting my face.

 The rest of the hour was spent learning how to use their computer system and setting up my personal account for class.

 When it was time for lunch, Jasper led me to my locker, which was close to his, so I could put my stuff away. Alice met us there, waiting to give Jasper another affectionate kiss and cuddle. I was trying to get use to their PDA, but I couldn’t stop the blush from reaching my cheeks having to witness it.

 The cafeteria was large room, with windows overlooking the forest behind the school. There was tranquility to the view, balancing the loud noise level that was contained within from the students trying to get in a social hour. The cafeteria had several long tables spread out through the room. Angela and Ben were at a table towards the back of the room, sitting with several people. Like the classrooms, their table was mostly cut-off from the rest of the school population.

 We quickly bought our food and walked over to join them. I was introduced to a few more people, or Witches. Tyler Crowley, a brown-haired boy, who I could tell was a jock from the letterman’s jacket that he was wearing. He was nice and a little over-friendly, but not the same level as Mike.

 Eric Yorkie was the other Witch in our year that I hadn’t met yet. His face was mostly covered with his dark hair, hiding his small features. He was shy, but gave me a true smile in greeting. He had a graphic novel next to his tray that looked to be a bit worn from multiple readings.

 About fifteen minutes into lunch, Alice quietly asked Jasper where Edward was. I looked up and noticed that our table was only half-full, with a few empty chairs.

 I looked over in their direction to see Jasper looking down at his phone, checking his text messages. He had a small frown on his face. “Nothing here…” he mumbled, but loud enough for me to over-hear.

“Speaking of missing, where are Lauren, Jessica, and Mike?” Angela questioned, looking behind her towards the cafeteria entrance.

 Alice picked up her cell phone and typed in a text to Edward, I assumed. She laid it on the tray, looking at it every few seconds as if willing it to respond to her.

 Five minutes after Alice’s text, Mike walked in with Jessica cuddled around him, looking as if she were cooing to him. Mike’s head was down, but I could see he was holding something up to his face. When he got closer to our table, I could see the beginnings of a bruise on his right cheek underneath an ice pack.

“Oh my poor baby, I’m so sorry you got hurt!” Jessica continued to sweet talk to Mike, running her hand across his chest in a consoling manner. Mike refused to look at any of us, but moved to one of the chairs furthest from us.

“What happened?” Alice asked concerned.

 Jessica looked at Alice, opening her mouth to respond, but saw me and quickly shut it, turning back to “attend” to Mike.

“It happened in the parking lot,” mumbled Mike, whose eyes were trained on the table in front of him.

“Where’s Edward?” asked Alice.

“He’s with Lauren,” Jessica replied, sounding a bit miffed.

“What aren’t you telling us?” Alice pressed again.

 Jessica gave me another look before turning back to Alice. I understood that she wasn’t comfortable talking with me present. Maybe if I left, Alice could get her information. It was obvious that she was worried about finding her twin, and Jessica may be the only one to give her what she needed.

 I stood up from the table, grabbing my tray. “I need to go to the ladies room,” I announced.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Angela asked.

 I shook my head no. “That’s okay, I’m going to head over to my class afterwards. Thanks though,” I replied. I knew that Angela wanted to know what had happened as well, and didn’t want to deprive her of getting answers.

 I walked back to my locker to gather my notebooks and into the nearest restroom. I took a few moments to relieve myself and fix my outfit, hair and make-up. A glance at my watch told me that I had less than five minutes to find my science class. Before I could open the door, it was opened for me by a tear-stained, roughed-up looking, Lauren from the other side. The moment she saw me, her favorite expression in my presence, the sneer, was firmly in place.

“Swan, would you look where you’re going!?” She all but screeched at me as she pushed past to reach the row of sinks and mirrors.

 She looked like she had been in a fight. I think I must have stood there a moment too long, taking in her state of dishevelment, because her eyes snapped up to look at me through the reflection in the mirror.

“ _What?!”_ She yelled.

 Usually this is where I would offer to help, but if she wasn’t going to be pleasant, then I’m not going to ask.

 I left the bathroom and used my map to find my next class.

 The teacher was already in the room, up by his desk, with a box of books ready to hand out. Up on the blackboard behind him were instructions:

“Mr. Banner- Room 301”

 “Please take a book from the box.”

 “Sign your name on the book list next to your name.”

 “Look for your seating assignment on the green print-out next to the book list.”

 “No, you cannot change seats.”

 I followed the instructions and looked for my seat according to his chart. He had a layout of the tables in the room with two names to each table. Towards the bottom of the sheet was my first initial and last name on the next to the last table drawing near the row of windows. I glanced over and saw that I was sitting next to E. Cullen. Reading further on the list, I also saw that Lauren, Mike, and Jessica were in this class as well.

  _Great. Just freakin’ great. Who did I piss off in a past life to be stuck with this sort of karma?_

 I made my way over to the table and placed my bag on the floor. I tried to move my chair as close to my end as possible, trying to give Edward no reason to have to talk to me or complain about my breathing incorrectly, or something that would set him off in a scowl.

 Jessica walked in with Mike, and they both went over to Mr. Banner’s desk to retrieve their books and find their seats. When they turned around, Jessica caught sight of me first, but quickly looked away as if she didn’t see me. She walked over to a table on the opposite side of the room, closer to the front. Mike saw me and tried to give me a smile, but winced instead because of the bruise that was starting on his right cheek. It looked bad, and I wanted to ask him what happened, but knew I had to wait for Alice to tell me the details. Mike sat at the table across the aisle from mine.

 Lauren walked in soon after, and went through the same signing-in process. Only this time, I saw her visibly stiffen when she was looking at the table seating chart. Her head jerked up to the teacher and from her tone of voice, she was angry. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it was obvious that her seat was not to her liking. Mr. Banner didn’t look up at her, but just shook his head no at her, pointing his right index finger back towards the blackboard with his instructions.

 She started to argue his denial of her move further, leaning over the desk with fists on hips.

  _Who talked to a teacher this way? Oh right…Lauren._

 I was stunned watching her still trying to change her seating with the attitude that she presented.

 Finally, Mr. Banner looked up at her with an extreme lack of humor, and could see him mouth the word “No” to her. He then pointed to the table where Mike was sitting, staring her down, daring her to quarrel with him further.

 She yelled out “Fine!” and then stomped to her seat, giving me the evil eye as she passed.

 The bell rang for class to start, and I realized that the seat next to me was still empty. My attention had been taken up by Lauren’s theatrics, that I forgot who was supposed to sit next to me. Where was he?

 Mr. Banner started class and with the amount of information that he was giving us, I didn’t have time to worry about Edward’s location.

 It wasn’t until class ended that I gave another thought about where he could be. I hoped for Alice’s sake that nothing bad transpired. Packing my things into my bag I looked up to see Lauren and Mike talking. Jessica was walking over to them, with a slight jealous look on her face. Lauren was flirting with Mike. Not outrageously, but enough to know from her body language that was her intent. As for Jessica, each step closer became a little quicker and her expression was getting sourer.

 I made my way past them, trying to make it out the door before I had to have any further interaction with them, but Mr. Banner called out to me.

“Miss Swan, please let Mr. Cullen know that he better have a good excuse for missing today’s lesson and make sure that he gets the notes,” he told me, shuffling his papers on his desk.

“Uh, Mr. Banner, I don’t know him that well…” I began, but was cut off quickly.

“Miss. Swan, don’t you people all talk to one another?” He looked up at me with the same expression as he gave Lauren earlier; he would accept no further comments and expect me to comply with his instructions.

 “Okay,” I whispered and left, walking over to my locker to grab my books for that evening’s homework. Since I didn’t have a class for seventh period, I was going to spend it in the library to take a look at the classes offered and to start my work.

 Libraries always gave me a sense of peace. Being surrounded by all those books in a quiet room, with plenty of hiding spaces that the shelves afforded. It was a favorite hangout spot for me, even when school hours were finished.

 When I entered the Forks High School library, my reaction was no different. Instantly, all the stress and worries that I had gathered throughout the day washed away and I was left with a feeling of pure serenity. I took a deep breath and smelt all that lovely paper, bounded together, holding all those stories.

 The Librarian in charge gave me a small smile and went back to her business behind the check-out desk. I walked down an aisle to the right of me, seeing sunlight coming from that direction. Between the shelves I could see open space up ahead. Tables?

 As I came to the end I could hear harsh whispering. One was a female, that sounded like Alice and the other was male, but I didn’t know the voice. Edward? I slowed my steps, not wanting to intrude, but I caught a peek between the books and the open back of the shelf. It _was_ Alice and Edward. I could see them sitting at a table with their profiles to me, leaning towards each other, arguing softly.

 I know it’s not nice to eavesdrop, but I was curious as to learn where Edward had been, especially after the state that Lauren and Mike were in during lunch.

 “Edward, I’m telling you she does this shit on purpose!” I heard from Alice. Her voice was getting louder.

Edward just shook his head. “You weren’t there, I couldn’t let this one slide.”

Alice crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “Did you see how it started?”

“No.”

 I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation, because their voices went lower, as if they knew they were being watched. I moved away from my position of “spying” and walked back into the main area, taking a seat at a table in the corner. It wasn’t as secluded as the section where Edward and Alice were sitting, but I would be out of the way. I took out my list of classes and started checking off the ones that might be of interest. I would ask Jasper or Alice later to see which were worth taking and had a teacher that wouldn’t talk down to me or be extremely friendly. If it was up to me I would just come to the library for a free period to get my homework finished as much as possible before going home. If I had to continue lessons in Earth magic, then I think I would need this time to myself.

 I heard a noise to my left and saw Alice and Edward walking out from the back area, in-between two of the aisles. Alice saw me first and gave a half-hearted smile. I looked up further and saw Edward behind her, and immediately gasped in shock. His face was puffy on his left cheek with the beginnings of a black eye and a split lip with dried blood.

 His head jerked up at the noise I made, but his face was pretty unreadable.

“What happened?” I asked without thinking.

 “Edward was being an idiot and is lucky that it’s not worse than it is,” Alice replied sounding put-out with her brother. She came over to join me at my table, throwing her bag into the chair nearest while she dropped herself into the one across from me.

 I looked over at Edward who was silent, but stood wavering as if contemplating if he should join us or not. He looked tired, and I felt a little protective towards him in that moment, wanting to offer some comfort whether in words or just a place to rest if he needed it.

“Do you want to sit with us?” I asked him, uncertain if he would, especially since I was for some reason on his shit list.

He looked up at me a little surprised, but remained quiet before he shrugged his shoulders and started to turn away to head out the door.

_Mr. Banner’s message!_

“Wait!” I raised my voice, eliciting a “Shhhh!!” from the Librarian. I got up and walked quickly over to him. He just stood there waiting for me, still very quiet and expressionless.

 Once I got there I somewhat lost my momentum and my nerves decided to make themselves known in my stomach. “Um, Mr. Banner asked me to tell you that he expects a good excuse for your absence and to let you have a copy of my notes from today’s lesson.” I said to the tops of my shoes.

 I peeked a look back up at him to find that his eyebrow was raised as if to say “That’s all?” He turned around and walked out of the library.

 I wasn’t surprised by his reaction. He was becoming predictable, but it still hurt.

 I walked back over to Alice. “I tried,” I told her. She just leaned over and patted my hand.

 “He’s not having a good day,” she started.”It’s his own damn fault, though,” she said with a little more heat, squeezing her hands into fists on top of the table.

“What happened?” I asked quietly, hoping to calm her and get her to talk at the same time.

 “He got into a fight with a group of jocks, defending Lauren. Personally I think she started it to get attention, namely his,” she said.

 “What’s her problem?”

 “Lauren wants status, adoration…whatever puts her at the front of the line,” Alice explained, waving her hand in between us. “She’s always been that way.”

“She’s your first cousin, right?”

“Yes, I know what you’re going to ask. If she’s related to Edward, why is she chasing him? He’s going to be the next leader of our Coven, his mate will also be in a position of power. For a Witch like Lauren, what could be more desirable?”

“So, she doesn’t care for him in that sense, she just wants the crown?”

 Alice smiled at my metaphor and nodded her head in affirmation.”In some twisted way she does lust after him, but as for truly caring? I doubt it. She’s just too self-centered.”

“Alice that is really messed up,” I replied, feeling a little disgusted by Lauren’s actions. “Does she do this often?”

“Only when she’s feeling that she’s not getting enough attention,” Alice shrugged.

 It couldn’t be me could it? That would be really vain on my part to think that she was pulling this move with the jocks and talking down on me, to make herself feel better.

“Bella, what are you thinking?” Alice asked me quietly from across the table, chin resting on her folded arms, gazing at me softly.

“I was thinking…that it might have something to do with me.” I offered, looking at my hands, feeling weird by even vocalizing that thought.

“I was thinking the same thing too. I think she sees you as competition,” she statement matter-of-factly.

 My head jerked up and looked at her directly. “I’m new, and don’t know much. How could I be a threat to her?”

Alice reached over with her hand and placed it on my forearm, to quiet my rambling. “Bella, you’re not mated yet, and word has already spread to the other families about your abilities being so brilliant. Edward’s powers are truly amazing. He is a talented Witch and so are you, so the possibility of being mated to him are high.”

 I felt like I was kicked in the stomach with that last part about the prospect of being mated to Edward.

“Did I freak you out?” Alice asked softly, rubbing my arm soothingly.

“Why would I mate with him?” I asked, feeling my nerves take over from the soccer punch to the gut and replaced it with a large dose of nausea.

 “Bella, we don’t choose who we mate with, I’m just saying that you are a strong Witch and so is he. That it could happen, not that it will.”

“Okay…” was all I could manage. I didn’t want to think about this mating business, especially with someone who clearly thought so low of me.

 The bell rang, releasing us from school for the day, but not from my thoughts.

“Let’s go home Bella, we can talk about this later,” Alice said with a sigh, picking up her bag and rising from her chair. I followed her out to the parking lot and into the car. I barely remembered the drive home.  


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU/AH: When the Swans return to their birthplace, Bella learns she is no ordinary teenager, and Forks is no ordinary town. Can she fulfill her destiny with the powerful Edward Cullen, or will the dark forces that threaten their families destroy them all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SMeyer
> 
> Beta'd by Keepingupwiththekids
> 
> Thank you to ScarlettLetters, Jajo, and Ciaobella27 to their attention to this story.

I walked through the front door in a bit of a daze, after Alice and Jasper dropped me off from school. Before I could go upstairs, I heard my name being called from the back of the house. I made my way slowly to the kitchen, where I would most likely find mom or dad.

 Mom was at the small table sorting through a box of kitchen supplies. She looked up at me with a tired smile.

“How was your day?” she asked quietly.

 She looked like she not slept in days. Her eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath and she also showed signs of crying.

 “It was interesting,” I told her, tying to keep the emotions out of my voice. I didn’t want her to know that I was already having problems with a few of the teachers and students.

“Oh? Learn anything new?” she asked, getting back to her unpacking.

“No, it’s mostly a repeat of last year…except for Journalism. Jasper and Angela were able to get a place in the class for me,” I told her, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my voice. My day may not have gone how I would have liked it to, but by the looks of mom she seemed more fragile and any complaining from me might not be healthy for her.

 “Is dad here?” I asked.

 “Uh, no...He had a meeting with Carlisle and a possible job interview with Forks Police Department,” she replied monotonously, giving the box on the table her entire attention.

_I guess that’s my cue to leave…_

 I went upstairs to work on the homework that I should have attempted to do during my time in the library, before I got sidetracked. Taking off my jacket and boots, I walked over to my desk and started the dull process.

 A few hours later, while re-reading Frankenstein, I heard the front door, followed by the murmur of a masculine voice. It was most likely dad returning home from running his errands. I put my book face down and went to meet him.

 At the bottom of the stairs, I stopped for a moment, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from; it seemed to be on the move. I turned towards the kitchen, as that was the room that we ended up in the most, but before I turned right at the end of the main hallway, I saw that the greenhouse doors were open and heard voices coming from within there.

 I hesitated at the doorway, as I made out another voice, but couldn’t see who it was, as dad was standing in front of the person. I didn’t want to intrude on their conversation if I had to, but as dad turned towards me to point out something in the room, the other person was revealed to be Carlisle Cullen. They both stopped talking once they saw me, but smiled warmly.

“Bella, I don’t know if you met Carlisle. He came to see the greenhouse,” dad called over, motioning with his hand for me to join them.

 As I walked closer, Carlisle turned to face me, with a kind smile that produced tiny crinkles in the corners of his blue eyes, otherwise he appeared to be without much flaw in his features. He was a handsome man, probably in his forties and had the same elegant structure as Edward. I had a feeling that Edward was going to age just as gracefully.

 “Hello Bella, I’m Carlisle,” he took my hand in his large one and gave it a firm but gentle shake. “Alice has been talking about you non-stop since she’s met you.”

“Hi,” I said shyly and felt my cheeks flare up in what was probably a dark shade of crimson. I didn’t know what to say to him. He was very charming.

 His smile widen in amusement, as he released my hand.

 “When I heard that you had transformed the entire greenhouse, I was a little skeptical, but after Emmett and Maggie were instant…” he trailed off as he took another look around the room. “Impressive…” he said like an afterthought, before turning back to focus on me a moment later.

 “Bella, I came here to talk to you today about your training. Emmett has filled me in on what you have already accomplished, but he is about to leave for school this weekend and will not be able to continue your studies. My wife, Esme, who you met during the barbeque, would like to help you pursue your studies,” he said.

“Okay.” I didn’t know the protocol with the Coven, and wasn’t sure how I was supposed to reply. Was this something official coming from the Coven Leader or did I have a choice?

 Carlisle, as if reading my mind, placed a hand on my shoulder in a parental gesture. “Its okay, Bella. It’s not an order, but I think Esme would like to help you. We know that Alice and Jasper are to join you tomorrow for another lesson, and she would like to come and assist Emmett.”

 Remembering how calm I was around Esme, I didn’t mind her coming to a lesson, but with the amount of people I had to work with, that made me a little nervous.

 I nodded my head. “Sure, that’s fine.”

 “Great! I’m sorry she couldn’t be here tonight, there were a few problems at the school today,” he said turning to dad.

Dad frowned slightly. “Anything I need to check into?” He asked.

“No…no, I think we have it settled, but three of ours were targets.”

 Did he mean Edward, Mike, and Lauren?

“Mike and Edward looked like they were involved in a fight during lunch today,” I said, not realizing that I was speaking aloud, until I noticed that they were both looking at me intently.

 “Did you see the fight?” Dad asked, going into cop mode.

 “Ah…no, I didn’t. I just saw Mike at lunch with an ice pack on his face, Lauren in the bathroom looking rough, and ran into Edward at the library,” I mumbled towards the end, not sure if I should have said anything. Emmett said there were no secrets in this Coven, but didn’t know by how much. I didn’t want to be seen as a tattletale.

“Is that all?” Carlisle asked.

“Yes, that’s all I saw,” I said. In truth, it was.

 Dad just nodded his head and turned back to Carlisle. “Do you know who the others were in the fight?”

“I think some of the jocks,” was Carlisle’s reply.

Dad turned back to me.”Why don’t you go wash up for dinner...”

“Okay,” I replied, smiling goodbye to Carlisle as he did the same.

 Walking out of the greenhouse, I only caught one more piece of their conversation before it became just the sound of their deep voices.

“When is her eighteenth birthday?” Carlisle asked.

“September thirteenth, in a few weeks,” dad replied.

“We need to speed up her training and prepare her for her entrance into the Coven. We may need her powers more than the other Earth Witches…”

 I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling a chill go up my spine. Was I _that_ important to the Coven? I couldn’t be this all-powerful _thing_. I was just a senior in high school, looking forward to graduation and college.

 Mom was in the kitchen standing by the stove, stirring a silver pot with a wooden spoon. The contents smelled like tomato sauce. It was spaghetti and meatball night. She looked tense from behind, and I heard a sniffle. I went to go stand beside her, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Mom?” I asked softly. She jumped away from me with a small scream. “I’m sorry! I thought you knew I was next to you!”

 She visibly calmed down and moved back to stand in front of the stove. Her face was puffy from crying. I knew she wasn’t in the best of spirits since we moved here, but I was too busy to stop and truly talk to her with all that I had been involved with trying to get acclimated here.

 “Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked calmly, rubbing my hand on her arm.

 She wiped at her nose with her free hand. “I’m sorry, baby. I know that I haven’t been much good to you recently.”

 “What can I do?” I asked her, hoping to help relieve some of her distress.

“Nothing, baby. I’ve got a lot going on in my head.” She tried to give me a smile, but it wavered as more tears flowed down her cheeks.

 I didn’t want to push, so I leaned over and hugged her. Like when I channeled energy into the healing of the earth, I had hoped to help heal her heart with my touch. I wish I knew of a spell that could release her from whatever sorrow that she has been feeling and grant her peace.

“Mom, does it have anything to do with why we are here?”

 Her sniffling stopped for a moment and her body stiffened in my arms.

“How much do you know?” she asked, sounding pitiful.

“Almost nothing, except that it sounds like I have to hurry up and learn things about…Earth magic before I turn eighteen,” I said.

 She relaxed slightly and let out a breath, sagging a little in my hold. “Yes, you’ll be considered an adult in the Coven in a few weeks. I think Esme Cullen is going to be your teacher. Do everything that she asks of you,’ she said patting my hand.

 “I will, but…mom, what is this mating thing? Do I have to do it too?” I asked, getting nervous for her answer.

She twisted out of my hug and took my hands in hers.”I think it will happen for you. You’ll need to be prepared for…”

 Dad and Carlisle’s voices could be heard, along with their footsteps along the wooden floors. Mom stopped what she was about to say, but it was enough. That this mating thing could happen for me left me feeling nauseous.

 She released my hands and moved to the stove, turning her back to the kitchen door. As the men passed by the door, Carlisle gave a brief wave as he was still talking to my dad, this time about accepting a position on the police force here in town.

 My talk with mom was essentially finished. I didn’t think I could get another word out of her in regards my powers and training.

 Dad walked back in a few moments later, crossing over to the sink to wash his hands.

 “I took the job at the police station, as Carlisle suggested,” dad said almost inaudibly, shuffling over to the table.

 “Good,” was mom’s only reply.

 The rest of dinner was mostly silent with the exception of “pass the cheese” or the clinking of silverware on china. The tension was thick and all I wanted was to go back up to my room and hide. I had no appetite for dinner or conversation at this point. I was feeling more confused than ever with this piece-meal of half-truths and half-information coming from my family and new friends.

 I went to bed that night, exhausted once again, but I was hoping to wake up from all this mess to find myself in my bed in Phoenix. Things were not as complicated in the desert as they were here in the forest.

***

 Alice and Jasper picked me up for school the next morning, and talked a little about the coming lesson that evening. Alice was visibly excited to see what I could do, while Jasper more subdued in his actions. Then again, Jasper was not one for major displays of  emotions.

 The first part of the day went almost the same as it had the day before. Math was tough, Edward ignored me, English was another study in embarrassment, Lauren snickered at me, History was slightly better, Spanish was more of Mike invading my personal space, smelling strongly of bad cologne, and Journalism felt like the only place that I was actually learning something new.

 I excused myself from accompanying Jasper and Angela to the cafeteria, telling them I would be a little late to lunch, remembering that I needed to give Edward a copy of my notes from yesterday’s science class. Mr. Banner didn’t seem like the lenient type when it came to not following his instructions. I quickly made copies in the library and walked to the cafeteria, hoping to catch Edward before class.

 Thankfully things were on my side today. Edward was sitting at the lunch table that appeared to be reserved just for the senior Witches. I was feeling nervous again about having to talk to him directly. I was worried about how he would reply in front of the rest of the group. I grabbed a sandwich and a soda before I made my way over to the table. Alice saw me first and waved.

 I placed my tray in the seat between Alice and Angela, on the far opposite side of the table from Lauren, Jessica, Mike and Edward. Lauren gave me a quick sneer before turning her attention back to Edward who was talking in earnest with Mike. Neither one noticed me, but I had a feeling it was because they were talking about what happened during lunch yesterday. I would wait for a lull in their conversation before I would try to pass along the notes.

 In the meantime, I was somewhat paying attention to what Alice and Angela were saying, but since the topic was about shoes, I stopped listening. I spent the rest of lunch making surreptitious peeks over at Edward, trying to gage when I could safely speak with him. I never found the moment, and the next thing I knew, the bell rang.

 I got up and quickly gathered my things, hoping to speak with him, but Lauren saw me approaching and pulled Edward away towards the cafeteria doors, before he could see me.

  _Shit._

 I was going to have to try and pass off the notes before class, hopefully without Mr. Banner being there or watching.

 I was not so lucky. Mr. Banner was already at this desk at the front of the room, talking with Edward.  I walked over to my seat and prepared for the class by taking out my books and homework. I placed the copy of the notes under my book, to pass off to Edward, when he was seated.

 A moment later, I heard the chair scrap against the floor next to me, followed by a small thump of books hitting the table. I tried not to look, but watched from the corner of my eye, Edward getting situated in his seat. Even though his profile was to me I could still make out his expression. He was pissed. Whether it was at Mr. Banner or having to sit by me, I didn’t know, and found myself pushing my chair a little more to the left, trying to put as much space between Edward and myself.

 Edward briefly glanced at me, frowning.

 Before I lost my nerve, I clumsily pushed the photocopies of my notes over to his side of the table. He froze for a second, but then nodded his head once and took them from me.

_Was that a thank you?_

 I glanced up at the front of the room to see if Mr. Banner saw the exchange. His attention was on the blackboard, writing his lesson for the day. I released the breath I had been holding, thanking whatever god we believed in for not letting me get caught.

 The rest of the class went relatively well; or as well as can be when surrounded by people and a teacher that seemed to think so little of you. It was all note-taking for a lab we would have tomorrow. The silence of the classroom was slightly tense. Edward was back to totally ignoring me, while I got curious looks from Jessica and more uncomfortable ones from Lauren. I didn’t know what they were expecting from me. I could guess it was because both of them wanted to sit next to Edward. I know Lauren was glued to his side whenever I saw them in the same room together, but as for Jessica, I thought she was into Mike.

 I felt like I was in a Soap Opera. A _really_ bad one.

 When the bell rang, I practically shot out of my seat to leave that room as soon as possible. I hurried over to my locker to gather my homework for the evening, still feeling the need to get away from all that tension and into the tranquility of the library. It was only the second day of school and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take of all this stress. How long would it take Edward and Lauren to act decent to me? I didn’t care to become their best friends, but for Lauren to refrain from her hostile attitude or Edward with his coldness would help me get through the day with a little more ease.

 As I entered the doors of the library, I immediately felt a difference in the atmosphere. I slowed my steps and took in a deep breath of the scent of books. This was heaven. I gave a smile to the Librarian and walked down one of the aisles on the right, hoping to find the secluded area free of students or at least someone who was there to study and would refrain from talking.

 I was in luck. The area was empty and had my pick of one of the six long tables. I choose the one closest to the window and took a seat facing the beautiful view of the tree line. I took out my homework and started the tedious process of solving the math problems given to us that morning.

 Sometime during the hour, I heard someone else arrive and take one of the seats on the other side of the area. I gave it very little attention as I wanted to be able to get as much homework finished before lessons tonight. I would probably be exhausted afterwards and want to go to sleep when Emmett was done teaching me how to work a circle with a representative of each Element.

  I gathered my belongings and turned to make my way out of the library as the period ended with the bell sounding. I was startled to see Edward’s back as he moved into one of the aisles, heading towards the front doors. It was weird knowing that it was him who had been sitting behind me all that time, but grateful that I was unaware that it was him as well. I would have probably started to feel the tension again, wondering how he would act towards me with no supervision. There is only so much stress that I wanted to feel in a day, and I think my quota was already full enough for a week’s worth of such emotion.

 I shrugged it off and got to the parking lot to see Alice waving at me from the driver’s seat of her Porsche, waiting for me. She dropped me off at my house, with the promise to see me in two hours time. Homework came before “Witch Lessons” according to her mom, Esme. It would also give me enough time to finish my own and eat dinner with mom.

 During dinner she was still looking a little drained, but the dark circles were much fainter today, either by the use of make-up or an actual night’s sleep. Conversation was kept to a minimum and only on the subject of school or the house.

 Emmett called after five to let me know that he would be there shortly with Rose and that the others would arrive soon. I quickly helped mom gather a few glasses and a pitcher of ice water to take into the greenhouse. I sat the refreshments down on a small glass covered white wicker table that was situated by the wall, near the center of the room.

 Feeling my nerves once again making themselves known, I sat down in one of the matching chairs next to the table. I clasped my hands tightly in my lap, trying to think positive thoughts. I would be with Emmett and Rose, who had been my teachers to this point, and felt comfortable around them. I wasn’t as worried about Alice or Jasper participating, but more about how this lesson would go with Esme Cullen present. She was essentially a leader of this Coven coming to watch me carry out a ritual that I no prior experience performing.

 The doorbell rang, sounding faint from my position in the house. I stood up and slowly walked to the door of the greenhouse to wait. Mom was admitting our guests and could hear the faint tone of her voice, greeting them. In reply, I heard a myriad of voices, some deep and some light. They were all here.

 Emmett and Rose were the first to reach me and I smiled warmly at them. I gave Rose a hug and then before I could do the same with Emmett, he picked me up off my feet, and gave me a bear hug, twirling us around in a circle, gently.

“I won’t be able to do that much longer, since we’re leaving this Saturday,” he told me as he placed me on my feet. I felt a wave of sadness come over me. I had known my “big house” of the cousin for less than a week, but I loved him without question.

 Alice and Jasper approached next. Alice giving me a hug and Jasper a pat on the shoulder. Both were already peering through the doorway to get a look at the inside of the greenhouse. Alice gasped loudly as she stepped through into the room. Her movements were gradual, but graceful as she walked to the center. Her expression was one of deep shock and wonderment. Jasper was just as awestruck as his mate, as he walked to the center to join her.

 I felt a presence behind me, in the main hallway of the house and turned to see Esme standing a few steps away, also looking in awe at the lush greenery. She moved forward to come stand next to me in the doorway. When she reached me, she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and offered me a kind smile with a small squeeze.

“This is absolutely beautiful, Bella,” she whispered, turning once more to look inside the room.

 Was I supposed to thank her, when I wasn’t sure how much of this garden was actually of my doing?

 I ended up just nodding at her.

 We walked into the room together to meet up with the rest of the group.

“Bella, this is just…” Alice started waving her hands in all directions to encompass the contents of the room. “Like nothing like I have seen from an Earth Witch. Not even mom can do this much.”

 Esme wasn’t insulted, but gave her daughter a teasing smirk anyway.

“Sorry mom,” she said turning a little red.

 Looking at me, Esme’s gentle smile returned. “Bella, I’m here only to watch you tonight. Emmett will lead you in today’s lesson, since by right as your family member, he has the requested to do so,” she explained.

“Okay,” I replied and faced Emmett, who was standing to the left of me.

 Emmett’s usual joviality was replaced with a more serious expression as he walked a few steps in my direction. “Bella, tonight you are going to cast another circle. This time you will cast it with a representative of each Element. It will be up to you to call each Element and complete the circle, then close it.”

 I nodded my head, already remembering my previous lesson in creating a circle.

 Alice moved over to the position of Air on the circle, Jasper walked to Water, Rose to Fire, and lastly Emmett stepped on the North position of Earth, all facing outward.

“Bella, I want you to start on the outside of the circle in the East/ Air position and move clockwise. When you have finished calling all of the Elements, move into the center of the circle, and hold the Elements. Then release and thank them by going in a counter clockwise movement as you have before. Also, for this ritual, please conduct it out loud for everyone to hear,” Emmett explained.

“Okay,” I said softly.

“Ready?” He looked at me, trying to gauge my expression.

“Ready,” I replied moving over to Alice to begin, trying to stop my hands from shaking.

 Alice smiled at me encouragingly.

 I closed my eyes for a moment, calming myself and lifted my palms upward. “I ask to be cleansed of all negativity,” I started with a whisper. “I ask for this space to be cleansed of all negativity,” I finished, feeling my nerves fade away and the building of a low hum start.

 I opened my eyes and looked into Alice’s dark blue ones, centering myself and began. “I ask for the Element of Air to join our circle,” I said aloud.

 A subtle breeze flowed between us before it started circumnavigating the circle. Alice’s eyes drooped a little with a dreamy satisfaction, as she turned to face the inside of the circle. I moved along the circle to the next point, Fire, where Rose stood waiting for me.

 I raised my palms upwards again, as Rose mimicked my gesture. “I ask for the Element of Fire to join our circle,” I said aloud, looking at Rose, waiting for the response. It came shortly, with the feeling of heat surrounding us and then moving to join the perimeter of the circle. Rose gave me a brief smile and then turned to face the inside of the circle, holding Fire in place around the circle.

 I moved to the West, where Jasper stood waiting for me patiently. His demeanor was serene and I felt comfortable at once. We held our palms up, as I called for the Element of Water to join the circle. A mist floated around us and then moved to surround the circle as he turned to face inside, keeping his Element present.

 I walked over to Emmett, and called the last Element, Earth. I could smell keenly the scent of ripe fruit and blooming flowers before it became one with the circle. As Emmett turned inwards I walked around him and sealed the circle. I took my place in the center and felt like I was in the middle of a storm.

 I could now visibly make out each Element as it circled us. Each one had a distinct flare of energy that would occasionally pull away revealing it’s pure self before merging back into the flow that continued to move around us. All of their separate powers were awesome and scary to behold, but when they worked together it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was completely humbled. I could feel tears forming in my eyes, with the amount of emotions running through me. I was exhilarated and fatigued all at once.

 I looked to Alice who was watching at me with the same dreamy expression. Apparently her Element worked like a relaxer for her. She had her arms comfortably spread away from her body, as if reaching to hold hands with Emmett and Rose on either side of her.

 I glanced to Rose to see that she was in the same position.

“Bella,” Emmett called me.”I want you to let all of the Elements to channel through you for a few moments and then relinquish them back to the circle. Then I want you to close the circle.”

 Since he was behind me, I nodded my head, yes so he could see my assent rather than have strain to hear my voice.

 I held my palms upwards, preparing myself to feel all four of the Elements run through me. As soon as I was in position, Emmett let go of his control of the Element of Earth and let it flow over to me. I felt the charge that it brought me, and gave into it for a moment, but maintain my firm guidance of its clockwise path around the circle.

 I gave another nod towards Alice, to let her know that I was ready for Air, and felt it flow over to me. The energy was completely different than what I was used to working with, and it felt almost too much to hold. It was dissipating at a rapid rate, such that I felt myself becoming unbalanced.

“Bella, ground yourself,” Emmett said.

 I quickly set myself back into place, controlling both Elements. While Earth was energizing me, Air was draining me at the same time. I concentrated and fought to remain stable. When I felt ready for the next Element, I looked up at Rose to give her the sign to release Fire.

 Fire came to me in a rush, like a volatile wave of heat demanding all of my attention. It was frightening at first but it was calmed by the presence of Earth. Unlike Air, it didn’t tire me, but almost lovingly encouraged me to embrace it. I opened myself up to it, and felt its heated caress.

 Rose looked at me strangely, but since we were in the middle of a ritual she remained absolutely still, ready to help me if necessary.

 As soon as I was able to hold the three Elements, I looked over at Jasper and gave him a nod. Water came to me slowly, building itself up until all at once it was swimming around me. I gasped at the sensation of feeling like I was floating with waves lapping at my body. I had to remind myself that I was on dry land. With each surge of its energy moving around me, I felt a sleepiness come over me.

 I gave myself another moment of holding and guiding all four Elements. I was trying to remain focused but it was becoming too much to handle.

“Bella, release them back to us, one by one,” commanded Emmett.

 I let go of Water first, letting it flow back to Jasper and saw him take control. I next looked over at Rose and released Fire back into her care, feeling one last lick of flame as it left me. Glancing over at Alice, I gratefully let Air return to her, leaving only Earth.

 Before giving Earth back to Emmett, I let it flow through me, giving me a boost of much needed energy that had been lost to the Elements that were not mine to control. Finally, I let it flow back to Emmett and watched as the Elements return to their path around the circle.

“Now close the circle, Bella.” Emmett said.

 I turned around and walked over to his position and held up my palms. “Earth, thank you for your presence. You may now leave.”

 I felt it move away and could see the circle starting to lessen as I walked over to Jasper and repeated my actions, thanking the Water and letting it leave. Next was Rose, and then lastly, Alice.

 I walked out of the circle, breaking it and officially ending the ritual.

“Wow!” Emmett exclaimed as he rushed over to give me a hug. “That was great for your first time holding all four Elements!”

 I was tired and could only lean into the hug.

 “Great?” Alice smiled at me, taking Emmett’s place and gave me a hug, before pulling away to look at me in awe. “That was _amazing_!”

 Esme came to stand with us, giving me an excited smile. “Yes, I would agree Alice. That was terrific work, Bella.”

“Are you tired?” Jasper asked me, placing a concerned hand on my shoulder.

“Yes, that was hard. I almost lost control of them,” I replied.

“But you didn’t,” Emmett finished for me, smiling like a proud parent at me.

 “What did you feel when you held them?” Rose asked, looking more serious than the others, with her arms folded across her chest.

 “Earth energized me, but when I added Air, I felt tired. Fire felt okay, and Water was starting really to exhaust me by the end,” I said, starting to babble.

 I felt myself sway a little on my feet, feeling extremely tired, and let out an un-lady like yawn.

 Jasper kept me propped up with his hand. “I think it’s someone’s bedtime,” he said with an amused smile.

Emmett came forward and wrapped an arm around me. “Alright, that’s enough for one day. Upstairs little lady, we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

 I waved goodbye to everyone, feeling my eyes start to close and let out another yawn, barely covering my mouth with my hand. Emmett was leading me out of the greenhouse to my bedroom.

“Why am I so tired?” I groggily asked Emmett.

 He smiled down at me, and picked me up into his arms to carry me, as we reached the stairs. “Well you just handled all four Elements. It’s a hard thing to do and can end up being very draining,” he said.

“Then why did you have me do it?” I asked snuggling into his chest, letting my head rest against him.

 “It’s sometimes used as part of a ritual. A representative of each Element is present in a circle and channels their energy into a single object,” he explained.

“Okay,” I slurred.

 I could hear and feel his soft laughter. “Go to sleep, Bella. You did very well today.”

 I was asleep before we reached the second floor.


End file.
